Palou, king of IndyCar

Alex Palou secured his fourth IndyCar championship in the last five seasons yesterday at Portland International Raceway when fellow title contender Pato O'Ward lost power early in the race.

O'Ward started on pole and was the only driver mathematically eligible to beat Palou for the championship.

The Spaniard entered Sunday with a comfortable 121-point lead over O'Ward in the standings and, provided he left Portland with a 108-point advantage, would secure the championship at the penultimate race of the season.

He secured the Astor Cup just 22 laps into the race at the Portland track when O'Ward experienced an electrical issue in his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and had to make an unscheduled pit stop. He returned to the track nine laps behind the leaders.

Palou finished third, O'Ward finished 25th, and the Spaniard has the title secured with two races remaining in the IndyCar season.

The Spaniard was combative in the final stages of the race and drove unnecessarily aggressively at times, even going off track with four laps remaining and competing in a speed duel with Christian Lundgaard for position.

“We're here to win. That's why we're here. We've said it many times. When we come here, although we have that big goal of winning the championship, our priority is always to win races and win every weekend,” Palou insisted.

“Although it might have been nice to finish third, we wanted to win.”

After the race and the championship celebrations, and feeling calmer, Pato O'Ward took a few minutes to express his frustration on social media.

She posted a selfie with an annoyed face, accompanied by the message: “What the…” and a broken heart emoji.