Great Scott
Scott Dixon used a steady drive to win his fifth IndyCar championship with ease.
Dixon needed an uneventful finale at Sonoma Raceway to lock up the title and got it on the opening lap of the race. Alexander Rossi, his challenger, made contact with teammate Marco Andretti seconds after the start and broke his front wing.
Rossi had to pit for a new part, dropped to last in the field, and the championship was decided. Dixon held a 29-point lead over Rossi at the start of the day, and, even though the race was worth double points, Rossi needed to be perfect to catch “The Iceman”.
Dixon finished second, the same place he started, behind winner Ryan Hunter-Reay. His fifth title moves him into second in IndyCar history, two behind A.J. Foyt.
“You always doubt these situations and think they are never going to happen,” Dixon said. “It’s all about the people and I’m the lucky one that gets to take it across the line.
“We had a lot of grit. Rossi did a hell of a job, he’s been pushing so hard this year and he’s going to be a star.”
The 38-year-old New Zealander also won titles in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2015, all with Chip Ganassi Racing.
“What an incredible ride it’s been with this guy,” said Ganassi, who has 12 IndyCar titles as a team owner.
Dixon’s final points margin was 57 points over Rossi, who rallied to finish seventh.
“It was going to be a tough day to beat Scott anyway,” Rossi said. “It’s unfortunate to go out like that. I wish I could replay that a million more times. We have to look at 2018 and be pretty happy with it, even though we go away second and the first loser.”
Hunter-Reay won for the 18th time of his career.
“To end this way is unreal,” said Hunter-Reay, who dedicated the win to injured IndyCar driver Robert Wickens. “We wish he was here, he would have made my life a lot more difficult on the track today.”
Hunter-Reay also praised Dixon as the greatest driver of this IndyCar generation.
“To share the track with him is awesome and to beat him is, too,” Hunter-Reay said.
Will Power and Simon Pagenaud finished third and fourth for Team Penske, which picked up its 500th organisational win earlier in the day when Brad Keselowski won Nascar’s race in Las Vegas.
■ New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon has secured his first podium finish of the 2018 World Rally Championship season in Turkey.
With his British co-driver Seb Marshall, Paddon stuck to his plan of being consistently fast and clean to complete the final four stages of Rally Turkey and bring home his seventh WRC career podium finish.
The pair went into the action on the final day in a clear third place — they trailed second-placed Jari-Matti Latvala by 57.4s and were ahead of fourth-placed Teemu Suninen by over 2m. Paddon described the need to preserve his third place with a calm, measured approach as like being in “no man’s land”.
“It’s about playing the long game,” he said. “When you’re in ‘no man’s land’, it can be hard because you have to look after the car. It can be painful but it’s what you have to do.”