PORTLAND, Ore. — In wet conditions at Portland Int’l Raceway, 18-year-old Robert Wickens picked up his first Cooper Tires presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda victory in Saturday’s first race of a doubleheader as part of the Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland.
Wickens methodically worked his way forward after taking the standing start from fifth on the grid, as rain fell throughout the race.
He took second on lap nine and began chasing polesitter James Hinchcliffe. Approaching lapped traffic on lap 24, Wickens played the situation perfectly and dove to the inside of Hinchcliffe and took the lead. From there, Wickens was never challenged and pulled away to win by 10.957 seconds over Hinchcliffe.
“Luckily, there was room for error, because there were some pretty close moments a couple times trying to catch up to James,” said Wickens, who won in his fourth-career start.
The finish:
Robert Wickens, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Lewis, Raphael Matos, Franck Perera, J.R. Hildebrand, Alan Sciuto, Carl Skerlong, Junior Strous, Ronnie Bremer, Giacomo Ricci, David Garza, Adrien Herberts, Justin Sofio, Kevin Lacroix, Simona De Silvestro, Adrian Carrio, Mike Forest, Matt Lee, Brian Thienes, John Edwards, Frankie Muniz, Bret MacDonald, Jonathan Bomarito, Tom Sutherland, Dan Selznick, Richard Heistand.