Newgarden wins 2017 IndyCar Series

Josef Newgarden has won the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series after finishing second in the season finale at Sonoma.

Newgarden led much of the race but his Team Penske team-mate Simon Pagenaud ultimately took victory after a four-stop strategy put the Frenchman in front on Lap 65 of 85.

Newgarden (#2 Team Penske Chevrolet) had tried hard to pass Pagenaud (#1 Team Penske Chevrolet) in the final stint despite not needing to, but the 2016 champion held on to the lead.

The 26-year-old’s title comes in his first year with Team Penske, giving ‘The Captain’ his 15th IndyCar crown.

Penske’s four drivers entered the race all in the championship hunt along with Chip Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.

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While Newgarden’s second place was more than enough to secure the championship, Pagenaud’s win moved him from fourth to second in the standings.

Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Honda) slipped from second to third after finishing the race in fourth place.

He still prevented Penske from taking a clean sweep of the top four championship positions, with Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Chevrolet) and Will Power (#12 Team Penske Chevrolet) rounding out the top five in the points.

The race was a largely processional affair, the first Sonoma IndyCar event run without a single caution since 1970. The only real change of lead came via Pagenaud’s unconventional pit strategy.

The championship five remained in the top five from start to finish, with Power taking the final podium spot and Castroneves fifth behind Dixon.

Away from the title battle, Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) made up three places to finish the race in sixth.

Marco Andretti (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) was one position further back in his 200th IndyCar race.

Dixon’s best hope of assistance from his Ganassi team-mates ended on the opening lap when Tony Kanaan (#10 Chip Ganassi Honda), in what is set to be his final race with the team, suffered a puncture.

Takuma Sato (#26 Andretti Autosport Honda) was another victim of a blown tyre. After being the only non-championship contending driver to start in the top six, he dropped out of contention early on with a puncture on Lap 7, before retiring with engine trouble 18 laps from the end.

Sato’s team-mate and preceding Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi (#98 Andretti Autosport Honda), who began the race as a massive outsider in the championship fight, also suffered from engine issues. His race ended on Lap 25.

Zachary Claman De Melo (#13 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) was the highest placed rookie in his very first IndyCar race. He finished in 17th, ahead of fellow rookies Jack Harvey (#7 Schmidt Peterson Honda) and Ed Jones (#19 Dale Coyne Honda).

VIDEO: Race day highlights

Results: Grand Prix of Sonoma

Pos	Driver	Grid	C/A/E/T	Laps	Race time, gap	Laps led	Status	Pit stops
1	Simon Pagenaud	3	D/C/C/F	85	1:55:52.6840	41	Running	4
2	Josef Newgarden	1	D/C/C/F	85	+1.0986	41	Running	3
3	Will Power	2	D/C/C/F	85	+1.6139	–	Running	3
4	Scott Dixon	6	D/H/H/F	85	+12.0870	–	Running	3
5	Helio Castroneves	4	D/C/C/F	85	+22.5022	–	Running	3
6	Graham Rahal	9	D/H/H/F	85	+23.5289	–	Running	3
7	Marco Andretti	11	D/H/H/F	85	+23.9788	–	Running	3
8	Ryan Hunter-Reay	7	D/H/H/F	85	+24.5140	–	Running	3
9	Sebastien Bourdais	10	D/H/H/F	85	+49.9911	–	Running	3
10	Conor Daly	13	D/C/C/F	85	+55.6650	3	Running	3
11	Charlie Kimball	15	D/H/H/F	85	+1:21.0203	–	Running	4
12	Max Chilton	14	D/H/H/F	85	+1:24.5038	–	Running	3
13	Spencer Pigot	17	D/C/C/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	4
14	JR Hildebrand	20	D/C/C/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	4
15	Carlos Muñoz	22	D/C/C/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	3
16	Tony Kanaan	12	D/H/H/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	5
17	Zachary Claman De Melo (R)	21	D/H/H/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	4
18	Jack Harvey (R)	19	D/H/H/F	84	+1 lap	–	Running	4
19	Ed Jones (R)	18	D/H/H/F	69	+16 laps	–	Off Course	4
20	Takuma Sato	5	D/H/H/F	62	+23 laps	–	Off Course	3
21	Alexander Rossi	8	D/H/H/F	60	+25 laps	–	Running	4
22	James Hinchcliffe	16	D/H/H/F	52	+33 laps	–	Electrical	3

(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone

Championship points

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Josef Newgarden	642
2	Simon Pagenaud	629
3	Scott Dixon	621
4	Helio Castroneves	598
5	Will Power	562
6	Graham Rahal	522
7	Alexander Rossi	494
8	Takuma Sato	441
9	Ryan Hunter-Reay	421
10	Tony Kanaan	403
11	Max Chilton	396
12	Marco Andretti	388
13	James Hinchcliffe	376
14	Ed Jones	354
15	JR Hildebrand	347
16	Carlos Munoz	328
17	Charlie Kimball	327
18	Conor Daly	305
19	Mikhail Aleshin	237
20	Spencer Pigot	218
21	Sebastien Bourdais	214
22	Ed Carpenter	169
23	Gabby Chaves	98
24	Juan Pablo Montoya	93
25	Esteban Gutierrez	91
26	Sebastian Saavedra	80
27	Oriol Servia	61
28	Jack Harvey	57
29	Fernando Alonso	47
30	Pippa Mann	32
31	Zachary Claman De Melo	26
32	Jay Howard	24
33	Zach Veach	23
34	Sage Karam	23
35	James Davison	21
36	Tristan Vautier	15
37	Buddy Lazier	14