Dixon claims first win to stretch series lead

Scott Dixon has won his first race of the IndyCar Series season.

The Kiwi driver started from fifth at the Kohler Grand Prix at Road America, Wisconsin, yesterday but took the lead on lap 31 of the 55-lap race and never looked back.

He made the crucial pass of Josef Newgarden coming out of a restart. Newgarden had been on the the worse ‘‘black’’ tyres when the yellow flag came out and Dixon was on the better ‘‘red’’ tyres when the race resumed, making the advantage pay by passing the American around the outside.

‘‘Joseph made it easy for me,’’ Dixon said.

‘‘It was around the outside and he gave me plenty of room and I’m thankful for that. He had a bit of a moment as well. That was where we won the race.’’

Dixon found himself in the reverse position to Newgarden during a restart with nine laps to go, but used his experience to hold off the challenge.

‘‘I was hoping that wasn’t going to be the scenario on the last restart, but I got a good punch out from the last corner and that Honda power d took us across the line.’’

The victory, the 41st of his career, continued Dixon’s strong recovery from his horror crash at the Indy 500 on May 28. It was his fourth-straight top-10 finish since then and his first win of the season after three second-place finishes.

It puts the 36-year-old in the box seat to win his fifth IndyCar title, although the season is far from over. With seven races of the 17-race season to go, his lead has been extended to 34 points over Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, who was fourth yesterday. Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves finished third to mirror his place in the overall standings, 37 points behind Dixon.