PORTLAND, ORE. — Alex Palou earned the first pole of his IndyCar career and put himself in position to reclaim the championship lead Sunday at Portland International Raceway.
Palou turned a top lap of 58.7701 seconds in Saturday qualifying on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn permanent road course built in 1960. The Spaniard had only been to the Portland track once before — the race was canceled last season during pandemic rescheduling — for a test session last month.
But he said he immediately loved the track and spent IndyCar's two-week break heading into Portland on the simulator preparing for this pivotal title race.