Dixon scores redemption in wild Detroit race
DETROIT – Scott Dixon didn’t waste any time bouncing back from his rare mishap in the Chevrolet Grand Prix Saturday at Belle Isle. After a crash ended his day in frustration, he survived a wild race No. 2 in the Motor City, sidestepping all of the day’s chaos and cruising to an NTT IndyCar Series victory.
It shouldn’t have been easy as he had to hold off some hard-chargers on a couple of late restarts, but a driver with his experience in those situations had little trouble fending them off.
For the Chip Ganassi Racing superstar, the win was his first of the season, third in Detroit and No. 45 of his career. He remains third on the all-time wins list but now trails the legendary Mario Andretti by seven.
In the winner’s circle: Marcus Ericsson delivered the best drive of his young IndyCar career en route to his first podium and the first podium of the season for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
“That was amazing,” the former Formula One driver said. “My first podium since
2013.”
Meanwhile, Will Power recovered from a disastrous start to finish third and keep his championship hopes alive.
Unforgettable: How about just the whole darn race? The second dual in Detroit delivered an unbelievable amount of action Sunday. There were crashes, passes (around 150) and all kinds of fascinating strategy plays to keep up with throughout the day. The excitement started on lap 1 when Will Power and Felix Rosenqvist made contract and created a domino effect that ended Tony Kanaan’s day and ruined the Sunday of Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud.
Soon after, it looked like Indy 500 rookie of the year Santino Ferrucci might be en route to his his first career win or podium before a few yellow flag threw a wrench in his strategy. Frankly, by the end of the race, Ferrucci’s run seemed like a distant memory after five cautions shuffled the field so much, it was nearly impossible to track or predict who might come out on top.
James Hinchcliffe and Josef Newgarden seemed poised for success before their crash. Power’s day looked to be done after he broke his gearbox in the lap 1 crash and stalled on track later, yet he finished with a podium.
Suffice to say, it was wild, wild Sunday in Detroit.
Drive another day: The winner of Saturday’s race and Sunday’s pole-sitter Newgarden looked poised to turn this Detroit weekend into the foundation of his second championship campaign.
But his day was undone when he got involved in mid-race scuffle with Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi. Hinchcliffe exited the pits just in front of Newgarden, causing him to check up as the Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver got up to speed. Newgarden and Rossi both attempted to maneuver around Hinchcliffe in Turn 3, with Newgarden diving inside. He lost control of his car, spun out and made contact with Hinchcliffe, who in turn made contact with Rossi.
Newgarden was able to re-enter the race but was 21 laps down and finished 19th. He entered the day leading the championship and he’ll maintain it heading to Texas next weekend. However, Sunday dealt a significant blow to his points pad, as Rossi now sits just 15 points behind after finishing fifth.