Dixon 12th but still leads

AUCKLAND: New Zealander Scott Dixon has avoided letting his Indycar Championship lead evaporate despite a rough race at yesterday’s Iowa Corn 300 where he finished 12th.

James Hinchcliffe took the chequered flag under yellow, ahead of Spencer Pigot and Takuma Sato.

It was the first win of a tough season for the Canadian.

‘‘This is such a good feeling after what happened in May,’’ he said in reference to missing out on qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

‘‘We knew we had it in us. We didn’t qualify the best but we had a good car.

‘‘The last stint the car was a rocket ship.’’

Dixon struggled for pace on his opening stint and dropped two laps behind the leader. He used a different strategy to try to get back on to the lead lap but never had the car pace to achieve it.

His team made the mistake of putting the wrong tyres on late in the race and he had to make an extra stop to remedy the problem.

The drama with the yellow finish helped minimise the damage as his main title rivals failed to capitalise on his rare offday.

He maintains a 33point lead over Josef Newgarden in the championship fight.

‘‘The first stint I think it was allround grip. It was really loose,’’ Dixon explained.

‘‘It got better through the race but then we had a shifting overheating issue where we could only use one gear at a time, let it cool off and then go back.

‘‘That definitely hampered us. ‘‘It was a good point’s day for us. A lot of the guys around us that are fighting at the pointy end had a pretty rough day.’’ — NZME