IndyCar Driver Road/Street Power Rankings after 2018 Grand Prix of Portland
By Asher Fair
The penultimate road or street course race of the 2018 IndyCar season is history. How do the sport’s drivers stack up against one another in these races?
The 10th of 11 road or street course races on the 17-race 2018 IndyCar schedule was the first race at Portland International Raceway in 11 years. This race, the Grand Prix of Portland, was won by a driver who had not yet won a road or street course race this year.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato starting the 105-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.967-mile (3.166-kilometer) Portland International Raceway road course in Portland, Oregon all the way back on the outside of the 10th row in 20th place, but he was able to win it.
In doing so, Sato became the first driver to win an IndyCar race after starting that far back in the field since Sebastien Bourdais went from last (21st place) to first in the 2017 season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
With Sato’s Grand Prix of Portland victory, he became the seventh driver to win a road or street course race this year. The other six drivers who have won at least one road or street course race so far this year are Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Will Power, Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais.
Newgarden, Rossi and Dixon have each won two road or street course races so far this year while Power, Hunter-Reay and Bourdais, like Sato, have each won one.
Sato’s victory in this race was his first road or street course race victory in over five years. Prior to winning this race, his most recent road or street course race victory came in the 2013 race on the streets of Long Beach, California. This victory is currently the only other road or street course race victory that he has earned in his IndyCar career aside of his Grand Prix of Portland victory.
How did Sato’s Grand Prix of Portland victory affect the IndyCar Driver Road and Street Course Power Rankings? Here are the formulated IndyCar Driver Road and Street Course Power Rankings and the non-formulated IndyCar Driver Road and Street Course Power Rankings following the 10th of 11 road or street course races on this year’s schedule.
To see how the formulated IndyCar Driver Road and Street Course Power Rankings are calculated, click here.