Dixon scores blistering Texas IndyCar victory

Kiwi superstar Scott Dixon produced a clinical drive to post a crushing victory the Firestone 600 IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Dixon received the chequered flag after 248 laps having almost 8s to spare over his Ganassi team-mate Tony Kanaan.

Helio Castroneves was third ahead of his Team Penske team-mate and series leader Juan Montoya.

Dixon took the race by the throat after it had been earlier dominated by Simon Pagenaud and then by Kanaan.

Ganassi’s strategy proved the ace card by ordering high downforce as the Team Penske runners headed by polesitter Will Power elected to trim out with minimal aero.

Power, who brushed the wall coming out of Turn 4 with 50 laps remaining, was never a factor from the outset, eventually finishing 13th.

Dixon admitted that his crew were unsure what downforce to run for the race which saw its only caution period after 83 laps for debris.

“We were not sure on what downforce to run. Big credit to the team,” Dixon said, who realised Ganassi’s 99th IndyCar race victory.

“We were struggling with the downforce early on but I’m over the moon.”

The clean race saw the top five runners remain on the lead lap at the finish with Marco Andretti claiming fifth in the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport machine.

Carlos Munoz, the Race 1 winner from Detroit, was sixth ahead of Ganassi’s Charlie Kimball.

Australian Ryan Briscoe, filling-in for James Hinchcliffe, did a super job in the Schmidt-Peterson Honda, finishing eighth after running as high as fourth after starting 19th.

Honda runners James Jakes and Gabby Chaves completed the top 10 in what was the 12th fastest race in IndyCar Series history.

Penske’s Pagenaud who had looked strong at the front for  much of the first 70 laps, finished 11th.

The disappointing season for Carpenter/Fisher/Hartman Racing continued with Ed Carpenter’s retirement with an engine problem after 147 laps.

Team-mate Josef Newgarden, the Alabama race winner, was forced out with what was believed to be a similar problem two laps later.

See below for full results

Pos	Car #	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Running / Reason Out
1	9	Scott Dixon	Chevrolet	248	Running
2	10	Tony Kanaan	Chevrolet	248	Running
3	3	Helio Castroneves	Chevrolet	248	Running
4	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chevrolet	248	Running
5	27	Marco Andretti	Honda	248	Running
6	26	Carlos Munoz	Honda	247	Running
7	83	Charlie Kimball	Chevrolet	247	Running
8	5	Ryan Briscoe	Honda	247	Running
9	7	James Jakes	Honda	247	Running
10	98	Gabby Chaves (R)	Honda	246	Running
11	22	Simon Pagenaud	Chevrolet	246	Running
12	8	Sage Karam (R)	Chevrolet	245	Running
13	1	Will Power	Chevrolet	244	Running
14	11	Sebastien Bourdais	Chevrolet	244	Running
15	15	Graham Rahal	Honda	243	Running
16	14	Takuma Sato	Honda	243	Running
17	18	Pippa Mann	Honda	242	Running
18	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Honda	241	Running
19	4	Stefano Coletti (R)	Chevrolet	239	Running
20	19	Tristan Vautier	Honda	156	Mechanical
21	67	Josef Newgarden	Chevrolet	149	Mechanical
22	20	Ed Carpenter	Chevrolet	146	Mechanical
23	41	Jack Hawksworth	Honda	62	Mechanical

Points standings

Pos Driver Points 1 Juan Pablo Montoya 348 2 Will Power 313 3 Scott Dixon 305 4 Hélio Castroneves 286 5 Graham Rahal 261 6 Marco Andretti 255 7 Sébastien Bourdais 244 8 Josef Newgarden 215 9 Tony Kanaan 215 10 Charlie Kimball 214 11 Simon Pagenaud 213 12 Carlos Muñoz 208 13 Ryan Hunter-Reay 183 14 Takuma Sato 180 15 James Jakes 155 16 Gabby Chaves 153 17 Jack Hawksworth 135 18 James Hinchcliffe 129 19 Luca Filippi 120 20 Stefano Coletti 115 21 Sage Karam 95 22 Simona de Silvestro 66 23 Tristan Vautier 65 24 Conor Daly 63 25 Ryan Briscoe 60 26 J.R. Hildebrand 57 27 Sebastian Saavedra 47 28 Francesco Dracone 38 29 Townsend Bell 32 30 Carlos Huertas 31 31 Pippa Mann 29 32 Alex Tagliani 27 33 Rodolfo González 27 34 Justin Wilson 25 35 Ed Carpenter 18 36 Oriol Servià 10 36 Bryan Clauson 10 36 James Davison 10

 

 

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