The Race Winners:
June 25, 2000 - Gil de Ferran
June 24, 2001 - Max Papis
June 16, 2002 - Cristiano da Matta
June 22, 2003 - Adrian Fernandez
June 20, 2004 - Sebastien Bourdais
June 19, 2005 - Cristiano da Matta
June 18, 2006 - A.J. Allmendinger
June 10, 2007 - Sebastien Bourdais
An international array of world-class drivers dominated open-wheel racing as the calendar flipped to the 21st century. The eight winners at Portland International Raceway were from five difference countries -- Brazil, France, Italy, Mexico, and United States.
When Indy cars return to PIR for the Grand Prix of Portland during Labor Day weekend 2018, seven drivers will be reunited with the track in an Indy car again. Featuring a unique standing start for the series, four active drivers competed in a Champ Car World Series in the last professional open-wheel race there in 2007: Sebastien Bourdais (winner), Will Power (fourth), Simon Pagenaud (eighth) and Graham Rahal (ninth).
“I have great memories of racing at Portland International Raceway, but the best memory was that last race in 2007. It was the 100th win for Newman/Haas Racing and that was quite the achievement by the team to get that many wins. I was honored to have been a part of it and to help them get to that number,” said Bourdais. “It was definitely a special moment especially battling against Justin Wilson for the win that weekend.
He continued, “Overall, it’s a fun track to race on, and I look forward to going back in 2018 for the first time in over 10 years. Not only is the track great, but the whole area is a nice place to visit. It’s a great city with great restaurants and food to enjoy. I can’t wait!”
Rewind to 2007 to view the last Indy car race at Portland.
Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan also have experience on PIR. James Hinchcliffe has also run on the track in developmental support series winning the Atlantics race at the track in 2006. Tony Kanaan will hope to carry forth his record-breaking streak for most consecutive starts which began at PIR in June 2001. He has 282 consecutive starts heading into the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season.
