McLaughlin wins battle of the Scotts

Scott McLaughlin won a thrilling duel with Scott Dixon as the Kiwis vied for a podium finish in the second race of the IndyCars doubleheader at Iowa.

McLaughlin held on for third, pipping his fellow Kiwi Dixon in a dramatic race yesterday that was won by Mexico’s Pato O’Ward, with Australian Will Power second.

American Josef Newgarden, who won on Sunday, looked set to complete a remarkable double until a rear suspension failure saw him crash heavily while in the lead on lap 238 of 300. He was taken to hospital after collapsing post-race.

Dixon positioned himself well when the track was cleared, having got past McLaughlin in a pit row battle under the yellow flag.

But McLaughlin got the jump on his Kiwi rival at the restart and leapt into third, a position he managed to maintain through to the finish.

Dixon will be well satisfied with his day’s work though. He started a lowly 18th on the grid compared with McLaughlin’s fifth.

Dixon, in his 300th consecutive start, used all of his experience and improved speed to march through the field and continue his recent resurgence.

With Newgarden set to take the championship lead had he won, Dixon took advantage to improve his own season standing from fifth to third, only 34 points behind series leader Marcus Ericsson. McLaughlin maintained his seventh place on the points table.

But McLaughlin was thrilled to get one over Dixon.

‘‘The car felt good today. That last restart ... I had a go and threw it around the side of Scott Dixon. He is not an easy guy to do that to,’’ McLaughlin said after claiming his third podium finish of the season.

Dixon was happy to haul in some more championship points.

‘‘It was a little frustrating on the restarts,’’ Dixon said. ‘‘I tried to attack on the last one but couldn’t quite pull it off. I had a lot of racing with my fellow Kiwi and well done to him.

‘‘I think that long haul in the middle of the race helped me overall, we got some good points.’’