Dixon breaks drought
WELLINGTON: New Zealand driver Scott Dixon extended his IndyCar series points lead and broke a season drought with victory at the Kohler Grand Prix in Wisconsin yesterday.
Dixon’s 41st career victory, his first since September last year, was hard fought.
Starting fifth on the grid behind four Team Penske rivals, the Chip Ganassi Racing veteran hit the lead on the 31st of 55 laps and held out Josef Newgarden, the American crossing just 0.57sec behind.
It was Dixon’s first win at the 6.4km, 14corner rural Road America circuit at Elkhart Lake, and could not have come sooner for the relieved Kiwi.
‘‘Finally. I think we should have won a couple earlier on,’’ Dixon, who has recorded three runnerup finishes in 2017, said.
‘‘This is huge for Honda. It’s not a track that maybe suits our configuration.
‘‘A lot of it was strategy — right place at the right time, everything just went well.
‘‘This is not what I expected, but I’m so pumped for the whole team.’’
Dixon’s day began cautiously, having experienced fuel pressure issues during the warmups, with the problem having the potential to rule the car out of the race.
He praised his pit crew for a rapid repair.
The New Zealander denied Penske a clean sweep, edging Newgarden, pole sitter Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Australian Will Power.
Victory has accelerated fourtime champion Dixon clear in the standings with seven races remaining in the 17leg series.
His 379 points is 34 ahead of secondplaced defending champion Pagenaud and 37 ahead of Castroneves.
The 36yearold has had four top10 finishes since his spectacular crash at the Indy 500 on May 28. — NZN