Dixon looks to gain momentum
Scott Dixon just turned 39 and he and his wife are expecting their third child in December. There are no plans, however, to slow his pursuit of another title.
“You’ll get to a point when you find you’re competitive or not, or the small things start annoying, then it’s probably time to move on,” Dixon said Friday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. “Right now, I feel like I really enjoy the sport. I love it still. I hope it continues for a while longer. I love it, that’s all I can say.”
The defending IndyCar Series champion loves the Honda Indy 200 at Mid- Ohio. He has won it five times, most recently in 2014.
Qualifying on the 13- turn, 2.58-mile permanent road course is today. The 90-lap, 203-mile race is Sunday.
The driver of the No. 9 Honda could use a victory to close the gap in the chase for another championship.
Josef Newgarden of Team Penske drove his No. 2 Chevrolet to victory at the Iowa Speedway on July 20 and has a 29-point lead (487-458) over secondplace Alexander Ross in the standings. Simon Pagenaud is third (429) while Dixon, second at Iowa, is fourth (389) with 12 of the 17 races completed.
Newgarden, the 2017 Mid-Ohio winner, looks forward to the race.
“I’m definitely a fan of road courses like Mid-Ohio, especially because of all of the fans that show up there,” he said. “There’s always a really great crowd that gets us all really pumped up for the race.”
Dixon, the winningest IndyCar driver with 45 victories, is intent on halting Newgarden’s momentum.
“It’s definitely been a long time but Chip Ganassi Racing has had success here in the past so we’re confident in our team and our car,” Dixon said.
Ganassi has 10 wins at the course, including seven of the 12 sanctioned by IndyCar, beginning with Dixon’s first Mid-Ohio win in 2007.
Rookie Colton Herta drove the fastest lap in the second of two practices sessions Friday at 123.671 mph in his Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda. Simon Pagenaud drove his Chevrolet to second at 123.292. Team Penske teammate Will Power was third (123.176).
LECLERC KEEPS FERRARI ON TOP IN GERMANY PRACTICE >> Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in practice at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, trading places with team mate Sebastian Vettel at the top of the timesheets, while Pierre Gasly crashed his Red Bull.
Leclerc was 0.124 seconds quicker than home hero Vettel in the afternoon session at a scorching Hockenheim, with a best lap of one minute 13.449 seconds. Vettel had been fastest in the morning, with the Monegasque driver second. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, last year’s winner at Hockenheim, was third in both sessions.