Need for speed proves costly
Scott Dixon and his crack team have to quickly put the disappointment of crashing out of the Indianapolis 500 behind them as the IndyCar series switches to a doubleheader in Detroit this weekend.
Dixon, the 2008 champion, survived a spectacular crash at more than 300 kmh on the fourth turn of the unforgiving track as he tried to push up from fourth with just 31 of the 200 laps left.
The New Zealander, 33, had complained of lacking enough speed to make an impact over the final stages of the race and had asked his crew to lighten the downforces on his car in a brief pit stop. That desperate move came with the risk of compromising the car’s handling and appeared to contribute to an accident that came without any pressure from rival drivers.
Ryan Hunter-Reay went on to be the first American to claim the chequered flag since 2006 as he fought a fascinating duel with Brazilian three-time winner Helio Castroneves over the final few laps.
The win took Hunter-Reay to the top of the series championship.
Dixon was credited with a 29th placing at Indy and saw his place in the drivers’ championship, which he is defending, plummet from fifth to ninth, 142 points behind Hunter-Reay.
As he nursed a sore body – he was checked and cleared at the track’s medical centre – his crew were working on his pummelled car, eager to make amends in Detroit where the series has back to back races on Sunday and Monday.
Good results there are needed to get him back into the frame.
The first three-quarters of yesterday’s race was incident-free and Dixon had his moments, briefly claiming the lead on laps 63, 94 and 124. He radioed his car looking for adjustments for the final push and then became a victim of a manic final quarter of a race that claimed Charlie Kimball, Ed Carpinter, James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell as the stakes rose.
‘‘Running top-10 the entire race and top-five for most of it, hit the wall . . . done for the day,’’ lamented Dixon.
‘‘Back at it next weekend at Detroit for two races.’’
Dixon earned praise for gung-ho attitude yesterday.
‘‘He’d talked on the radio about taking downforce out to increase his speed prior to his last pit stop, but it also carried the risk of not having enough grip and spinning out like he did.
his
‘‘Give Dixon credit for going for the win.
‘‘He wasn’t going to settle for anything less,’’ wrote Sports Illustrated’s motorsport correspondent Tim Turtle.
Dixon’s boss Mike Hull, Chip Ganassi Racing’s managing director, played down the late adjust- ments, believing sheer speed was at the root of the problem.
He said they hadn’t removed much downforce in the brief pit stop before the costly accident and had intended to remove more on the final stop. That never eventuated.
‘‘We just
took
out
a
small amount. I think you have to realise these guys are racing close to the edge. The top four drivers had broken away and they were running very fast laps.’’
Dixon had recorded a fastest lap of 360.964 km/h and his last lap was recorded at 357.127 km/h before disaster struck.