PORTLAND — Portland-area IndyCar fans had waited 11 years for this day.
Takuma Sato had waited more than a year for a victory.
And the IndyCar points championship will have to wait another race.
Sato won for the first time since the 2017 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday as Indy racing returned to Portland International Raceway for the first time since 2007, when the Champ Car series raced here.
Some 40,000 fans gathered under perfect weather. Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts gave the “drivers start your engines” command.
They were treated to a compelling race that saw Sato, who qualified 20th fastest, hold off a charging Ryan Hunter-Reay over the final two laps on the 1.96-mile course.
Sato, who is 11th in the points standings, became just the fifth driver to win on a road course after starting 20th or worse.
“This weekend has really paid off,” Sato said. “We carefully calculated. The strategy worked well. The car worked extremely well.”
Sato, a 41-year-old from Tokyo, took his final pit stop shortly before a yellow-flag caution on lap 77. When the race restarted on lap 82, Sato was in good position for a 23-lap sprint to the finish. He took the lead from Max Chillton, who took his final pit stop on lap 85, and raced mistake-free, keeping Hunter-Reay about four car-lengths back.
“I knew he was coming but I kept really cool,” Sato said. “Ryan really raced me hard, in and out, but (I was) brilliant.”
As the next-to-last race of the IndyCar season, the Portland Grand Prix also had the drama of the season’s points championship.
Scott Dixon entered Sunday as the points leader by 26. He finished fifth to expand his lead by three points on Alexander Rossi, who placed eighth.
Dixon narrowly avoided disaster in a first-lap crash involving Ed Jones, James Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti, and Graham Rahal that sent a plume of dust into the air and saw Andretti’s car come to a rest upside-down. Dixon escaped with minor damage to his car’s body.
“I couldn’t see anything once I got off in the dirt at the start; it was just dust everywhere,” Dixon said. “Then I kept getting hit and hit and thought, ‘Oh, this isn’t going to be good.’ I think the suspension was a bit bent. The car didn’t drive like it usually does. But I was able to get going.”
Near the back of the pack, Dixon was later penalized for a speed violation on pit row. Meanwhile, Rossi held the lead for 32 laps.
But Dixon worked his way back, while Rossi faded. Dixon hopes to wrap up the season championship at the finale in Sonoma, Calif., on Sept. 16.
“It was a huge day for the team today, and feels like a win for us,” Dixon said.
Will Power, this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, began the day on the pole and in third place in the points chase. But he suffered mechanical trouble early in the race and finished 21st, meaning the points championship is largely a two-man chase in the series’ final day.
Tony Kanaan, with Vancouver native Pat Jordan as the pit crew’s fueler, finished 11th.
