Portland’s atypical track layout, featuring mostly fast corners and few heavy braking zones, meant drivers faced tight energy-saving requirements, effectively forcing them to circulate far off their real pace in the first two-thirds of the race before upping the pace.
Lap times were as much as 10 to 12 seconds slower than the pole time set by Jake Dennis initially, leading to constant position changes and scenes of cars running side-by-side as drivers jostled for position without using too much energy.
