Dixon’s 6th win at Mid-Ohio puts him back in contention
Scott Dixon LEXINGTON — held off rookie teammate Felix Rosenqvist on Sunday to win the Honda Indy 200 for the sixth time, putting himself back in contention to defend his IndyCar season championship.
Dixon won by 0.0934 seconds in the closest finish at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course north of Columbus and the third-closest on a road course in Indy history. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver from New Zealand is third on the career victory list with 46.
Rosennqvist missed a chance for his first victory.
Points leader Josef Newgarden bumped third-place Ryan Hunter-Reay with two laps left and finished 14th. Newgarden’s lead over fifthplace finisher Alexander Rossi was cut from 29 to 16 points. Simon Pagenaud, who was sixth, is 57 points off the lead. Dixon is 62 back.
Rossi had an elongated stop of 14.9 seconds on Lap 41 because of fuel issues. Newgarden also had trouble.
Pole-sitter Will Power led from the start until the 25th lap when Rosenqvist passed him on Turn 4. He held the lead for four laps until making his first stop. Power came in for the first time on Lap 30 and yielded the lead to Newgarden.
Power finished second in 2010, ‘12, ‘16 and ‘17. He was fourth this year.
Dixon after series of stops among the field took the lead on Lap 47 over Power.
The race got off to an auspicious start when on the first lap when Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates James Hinchcliffe and rookie Marcus Ericsson bumped. Each had to pit. Hinchcliffe was two laps down upon his return. Ericsson went behind the wall for repairs and was out of the race after two laps and finished 23rd.
He said he was forced into Hinchcliffe after being brushed on the outside of his car by Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato veered off the course before regaining control.
“I felt like I got hit really hard,” Ericsson said.
There was no disciplinary action taken.