Simon Pagenaud secures maiden IndyCar title

Simon Pagenaud capped a career defining season by winning his maiden Verizon IndyCar Series title in an anti-climatic finale at Sonoma.

Pagenaud’s only threat to the crown, Will Power, was cursed with a clutch control unit issue, snuffing out his chances on lap 37 of 85.

The problem which prevented a gear being selected, extinguished Power’s hopes of victory and any chance he had of adding another crown to his 2014 series-winning effort.

Frenchman Pagenaud put in the perfect race to beat Graham Rahal (Rahal/Letterman/Lanigan Racing) with Team Penske’s Juan Montoya third, ensuring he clasped his hands on the Astor Cup in convincing style.

 “I think I will realise tomorrow (what he’s achieved). (there’s) So much emotion right now to be honest,” Pagenaud, who led 76 laps, said.

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“My whole career has been about today and getting to this level. When you can perform at 100 percent under pressure like this, it is amazing.”

Power was eventually released back into the action after the crew fixed the electronic problem but he had lost eight laps in the process, eventually classified in 20th.

Pagenaud, who claimed his fifth win of the season and became the ninth IndyCar champion for Roger Penske in its 50th year, carried out a clinical performance that was not in any way diluted by Power’s ill fortune as he completed absolute domination at the Californian venue.

After going into the decider with a 43-point advantage, the 32-year-old ended 127 points clear of Power with Castroneves completing a trifecta for Penske drivers in the series.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has signed an extension with Andretti Autosport to 2020, finished fourth ahead of Alex Rossi (Andretti-Herta) who was crowned rookie-of-the-year, Josef Newgarden (Ed Carpenter Racing) and Helio Castroneves (Team Penske).

Pagenaud moved out in the early laps to a clear lead over Castroneves and Power, who lost ground in the first stint on the red tyres.

Power was the first to pit after 15 laps with Pagenaud covering off a lap later as the Frenchman rejoined in front while his pursuer leaped Castroneves for second.

Schmidt-Peterson driver James Hinchcliffe charged from 20th to 13th in the opening 10 laps before finishing 12th.

Outgoing four-times series champ Scott Dixon finished 17th in the final race which will see sponsor Target depart the Ganassi team after a 27-year partnership.

Dixon had to stop mid-race to replace his earplugs and was the last of the runners classified on the lead lap.

See below for full results

Pos	SP	Car	Driver	C/A/E/T	Lap	Laps Down	Time Down	Pit Stops	Elapsed Time	Avg Speed	Pts	Running/Reason Out
1	1	22	Simon Pagenaud	D/C/C/F	85	0	–.—-	3	02:00:12.9424	101.181	104	Running
2	5	15	Graham Rahal	D/H/H/F	85	0	3.2523	3	02:00:16.1947	101.135	81	Running
3	3	2	Juan Montoya	D/C/C/F	85	0	18.0157	3	02:00:30.9581	100.929	70	Running
4	6	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	D/H/H/F	85	0	29.7224	3	02:00:42.6648	100.765	64	Running
5	8	98	Alex Rossi(r)	D/H/H/F	85	0	30.6649	3	02:00:43.6073	100.752	60	Running
6	10	21	Josef Newgarden	D/C/C/F	85	0	32.2754	3	02:00:45.2178	100.730	56	Running
7	2	3	Helio Castroneves	D/C/C/F	85	0	32.8490	4	02:00:45.7914	100.722	53	Running
8	14	27	Marco Andretti	D/H/H/F	85	0	34.3002	3	02:00:47.2426	100.702	48	Running
9	12	83	Charlie Kimball	D/C/C/F	85	0	34.9353	4	02:00:47.8777	100.693	44	Running
10	9	11	Sebastien Bourdais	D/C/C/F	85	0	43.8965	3	02:00:56.8389	100.569	40	Running
11	11	7	Mikhail Aleshin	D/H/H/F	85	0	49.3242	4	02:01:02.2666	100.493	38	Running
12	20	5	James Hinchcliffe	D/H/H/F	85	0	51.1304	3	02:01:04.0728	100.468	36	Running
13	13	10	Tony Kanaan	D/C/C/F	85	0	52.1792	4	02:01:05.1216	100.454	34	Running
14	15	14	Takuma Sato	D/H/H/F	85	0	52.6331	4	02:01:05.5755	100.448	32	Running
15	16	26	Carlos Munoz	D/H/H/F	85	0	56.6756	4	02:01:09.6180	100.392	30	Running
16	18	8	Max Chilton(r)	D/C/C/F	85	0	1:09.2581	5	02:01:22.2005	100.218	28	Running
17	7	9	Scott Dixon	D/C/C/F	85	0	1:21.1112	5	02:01:34.0536	100.055	26	Running
18	17	41	Jack Hawksworth	D/H/H/F	84	1	–	6	02:00:33.2952	99.709	24	Running
19	22	19	RC Enerson(r)	D/H/H/F	84	1	–	5	02:01:31.2600	98.916	22	Running
20	4	12	Will Power	D/C/C/F	77	8	–	3	02:01:11.5582	90.919	20	Running
21	21	18	Conor Daly(r)	D/H/H/F	36	49	–	3	00:56:33.9000	91.074	18	Mechanical
22	19	20	Spencer Pigot(r)	D/C/C/F	35	50	–	2	00:49:14.6307	101.708	16	Mechanical

Final points standings

1	Simon Pagenaud	659
2	Will Power	532
3	Helio Castroneves	504
4	Josef Newgarden	502
5	Graham Rahal	484
6	Scott Dixon	477
7	Tony Kanaan	461
8	Juan Pablo Montoya	433
9	Charlie Kimball	433
10	Carlos Munoz	432
11	Alexander Rossi	430
12	Ryan Hunter-Reay	428
13	James Hinchcliffe	416
14	Sebastien Bourdais	404
15	Mikhail Aleshin	347
16	Marco Andretti	339
17	Takuma Sato	320
18	Conor Daly	313
19	Max Chilton	267
20	Jack Hawksworth	229
21	Spencer Pigot	165
22	Gabby Chaves	121
23	J.R. Hildebrand	84
24	Oriol Servia	72
25	Ed Carpenter	67
26	Luca Filippi	61
27	R.C. Enerson	55
28	Townsend Bell	55
29	Pippa Mann	46
30	Matthew Brabham	37
31	Alex Tagliani	35
32	Sage Karam	22
33	Bryan Clauson	21
34	Stefan Wilson	14
35	Buddy Lazier	12