“Portland is a permanent road course built in a beautiful state, which is for me a fantastic area for many reasons. The downside is that the weather is so unpredictable that it's not uncommon to start the race on the dry and end with the rain as it happened to me in 1996 when I won my first Champ Car race.”

Italian racing driver and para-cyclist

Alessandro Leone Zanardi is an Italian racing driver and para-cyclist. Born in 1966, he competed in Formula One from 1991 to 1999 and later raced in CART, the World Touring Car Championship, and at the Summer Paralympics. He is best known for his success in American open-wheel racing, where he won CART national championship titles in 1997 and 1998 with Chip Ganassi Racing. He later became a decorated para-cyclist, winning four Paralympic gold medals and 12 UCI Road World Championships.