Inform Dixon finishes fourth
AUCKLAND: New Zealander Scott Dixon continued his good form by finishing fourth in the second race of the Detroit Dual yesterday to remain second in the standings.
After a slow start to the season Dixon has roared back into contention over the past week with a good haul of points at Indianapolis a week ago, a win yesterday on the Belle Isle street circuit and now another big pointscoring finish.
Ryan HunterReay won the race after making a threestop strategy work better. He was challenging teammate Alexander Rossi for the lead of the race with less than 10 laps to go when Rossi locked his tyres badly and ran off the circuit.
It handed
HunterReay the victory and proved extremely costly for former Indy 500 winner Rossi, who lost the lead of the championship as a result.
‘‘After I took that second set of blacks I started getting insync with the car and the balance started coming to me,’’ HunterReay said.
‘‘I was really worried at the beginning because it was really loose.
‘‘But once I got into a rhythm the car was doing everything I needed it to do. It was such a great car.’’
Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power finished second and Dixon’s Chip Ganassi teammate Ed Jones completed the podium.
Power took over the lead of the championship. Dixon is just a handful of points back in second.
Dixon’s fourthplace finish capped a top weekend for the fourtime championship winner.
He won his 42nd career race on Sunday to move into a share of third all time alongside Michael Andretti. He still trails AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti by a long way.
The race was delayed by more than half an hour after the safety car crashed during the warmup lap in an embarrassing moment for the series.