Scott Dixon surges to maiden Long Beach victory

Kiwi superstar Scott Dixon scorched to his first win in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in round three of the IndyCar Series.

Dixon prevailed after solidly managing the race at the front to stave off Penske’s pole winner Helio Castroneves in the 80-lap race

It moves him to fourth on the overall list of most victories after registering his 36th in America’s premier open-wheel class.

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Juan Montoya managed to survive after a sustained attack from his Penske team-mate Simon Pagenaud to claim the final podium position.

Pagenaud’s constant sniping at Montoya, who was struggling for rear grip, drew in Ganassi’s Tony Kanaan who loomed strongly in the closing laps but had to settle for fifth.

Dixon, who has recorded three series wins and an Indy 500, was ecstatic at finally claiming what proved to be an elusive triumph in the time-honoured street race.

“I still can’t believe we won here at Long Beach,” Ganassi stalwart Dixon said.

“It’s such a memorable and such a worthy track. I’m just so stoked.”

Sebastien Bourdais (KV Racing) was also able to close up on the leaders before finishing hard on the heels of Kanaan in sixth.

Josef Newgarden, Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and Sebastian Saavedra filled the remainder of the top 10.

Andretti was the first of the Honda-powered runners home with Chevrolet blocking out the top seven positions.

After starting 18th Will Power’s race saw any chance of climbing up the order crushed when he stalled on the pit entry when an early caution was called for debris on the track.

Power, the reigning series champion, eventually endured a miserable race to finish 20th.

Montoya maintains his lead in the series albeit by a slender three-point margin over Castroneves.

IndyCar moves to its third consecutive race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, for round 4 of the series this weekend.

See below for full results

1	Scott Dixon	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	1:37:35.23
2	Hélio Castroneves	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	2.22
3	Juan Pablo Montoya	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	13.48
4	Simon Pagenaud	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	13.73
5	Tony Kanaan	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	14.62
6	Sébastien Bourdais	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	15.08
7	Josef Newgarden	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	18.83
8	Marco Andretti	Dallara/Honda	80	33.94
9	Carlos Muñoz	Dallara/Honda	80	34.95
10	Sebastian Saavedra	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	35.53
11	Graham Rahal	Dallara/Honda	80	37.46
12	James Hinchcliffe	Dallara/Honda	80	38.77
13	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Dallara/Honda	80	40.33
14	Jack Hawksworth	Dallara/Honda	80	41.27
15	Charlie Kimball	Dallara/Chevrolet	80	44.38
16	Gabby Chaves	Dallara/Honda	80	46.65
17	Conor Daly	Dallara/Honda	80	50.05
18	Takuma Sato	Dallara/Honda	80	53.80
19	James Jakes	Dallara/Honda	80	1:39.79
20	Will Power	Dallara/Chevrolet	79	1 Lap
21	Francesco Dracone	Dallara/Honda	78	2 Laps
22	Luca Filippi	Dallara/Chevrolet	77	3 Laps
23	Stefano Coletti	Dallara/Chevrolet	69	11 Laps

Championship points after three rounds

1	Juan Pablo Montoya	119
2	Hélio Castroneves	116
3	Tony Kanaan	93
4	Scott Dixon	87
5	James Hinchcliffe	83
6	Will Power	80
7	Simon Pagenaud	73
8	Sébastien Bourdais	66
9	Josef Newgarden	66
10	Graham Rahal	62
11	Marco Andretti	61
12	Carlos Muñoz	56
13	James Jakes	54
14	Ryan Hunter-Reay	51
15	Luca Filippi	50
16	Jack Hawksworth	48
17	Simona de Silvestro	44
18	Gabby Chaves	42
19	Charlie Kimball	40
20	Takuma Sato	37
21	Stefano Coletti	30
22	Sage Karam	23
23	Francesco Dracone	23
24	Sebastian Saavedra	20
25	Carlos Huertas	20
26	Conor Daly	13