Dixon Captures Prized Road America Win, 41st Victory of Indy Car Career
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (Sunday, June 25, 2017) – One outstanding prize eluding Scott Dixon in his illustrious Indy car career was a win at Road America’s picturesque and lightning-fast permanent road course. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver checked that box today, winning the KOHLER Grand Prix.
Dixon crossed the finish line 0.5779 of a second ahead of Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden to earn the 41st win of his impressive career. It moved the four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion within one victory of tying Michael Andretti for third on the all-time list. It’s also the 13th straight season Dixon has won at least one race, extending his Indy car record.
“We raced as hard as we could,” Dixon said. “We had a little bit of luck go our way, we had good strategy, the pit stops were fantastic. These are the days you have to capitalize on.
“This is huge for Honda at a track that doesn’t suit our configuration, but the power and the (fuel) mileage really performed today. I’m just happy to be in the winner’s circle for the first time this year. At Road America, that’s mega.”
KOHLER GRAND PRIX: Box score
Driving the No. 9 NTT Data Honda, Dixon started fifth and made what wound up the decisive pass of the day on Lap 31. Relying on his softer Firestone alternate tires, Dixon zoomed past Newgarden, using the primary tire compound, on a restart and into the lead heading into Turn 1 on the 4.014-mile, 14-turn circuit.
“I think strategy-wise we definitely played it right with going to the red (alternate) tires at that point,” Dixon said. “The (primary) blacks definitely take a bit longer to come up, to get the grip that you need.
“Josef gave me the room. He obviously had a moment which made it pretty close and pretty tight with the way his car slid, but we both got through there. With other people, you probably wouldn’t have pulled that off. It was nice to race clean with Josef today.”
Dixon led 24 of the last 25 laps to win for the first time at Road America in his fourth start on the track named by most Verizon IndyCar Series drivers as their favorite road course. Dixon has now won on 11 of the 16 circuits on this year’s schedule.
His first win of 2017 allowed Dixon to stretch his championship lead to 34 points over last year’s titlist, Simon Pagenaud. It also makes Dixon the eighth different driver to win in 10 races this season, another indicator of the ultra-high level of competition within the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Team Penske drivers finished second through fifth in the 55-lap race. Trailing Newgarden across the finish line were Helio Castroneves (No. 3 REV Group Team Penske Chevrolet) in third place, Pagenaud (No. 1 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet) in fourth and Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) in fifth.
“It stings a little bit coming home second when you feel like you have a winning car,” said Newgarden, who started third in the No. 2 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet. “Scott was great today, so was Ganassi Racing. Those guys did a great job, certainly very deserving of the win. But that’s tough coming up a little bit short.
“I felt like when the caution came out and we were on the primary tires, Helio and Scott had the alternates, I thought this is probably not going to be very good on the restart,” Newgarden added. “It was hard to get temperature in them to get up to speed for the restart.”
Dixon, with eight top-six finishes in the first 10 races, has totaled 379 points through 10 races. Pagenaud is second in the standings with 345, Road America pole sitter Castroneves third at 342, Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato fourth with 323 and Newgarden fifth at 318.
Sato, battling a painful strained neck muscle, lost control of his No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda on Lap 29 and hit the barrier in Turn 11, bringing out the first full-course caution. Tony Kanaan, in the No. 10 NTT Data Honda, crashed in the same area on Lap 46 after making light contact with the No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda of Alexander Rossi. Kanaan was making his Indy car-record 275th consecutive race start.
The next Verizon IndyCar Series race is the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, which airs live at 5 p.m. ET July 9 on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.
Claman De Melo claims first Indy Lights win
Carlin’s Zachary Claman De Melo can now call himself an Indy Lights race winner. The Montreal native took the lead from pole sitter Colton Herta on Lap 5 at Road America and never looked back, winning by 10.5479 seconds over Kyle Kaiser in Race 2 of the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader weekend.
Indy Lights is the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires development ladder for drivers and teams aspiring to reach the Verizon IndyCar Series.
“It’s really exciting, I’m super happy,” said Claman De Melo. “I can’t thank everybody who helped me get to this point enough. It’s been a lot of work up until now that a lot of people don’t see. It took a bit longer than I wanted to get this win, but hopefully, I can build off this and keep fighting for wins every weekend now.”
Kaiser’s second-place finish added six points to his championship lead over Matheus Leist, Claman De Melo’s teammate at Carlin who won Saturday’s race and finished fourth today. Kaiser has a 27-point advantage over Leist after nine of 16 races.
Sources: Curt Cavin/Verizon IndyCar Series PR
KOHLER Grand Prix race results
Click HERE to view and download the official race results of the KOHLER Grand Prix.
ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin – Results Sunday of the KOHLER Grand Prix Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 4.014-mile Road America, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (5) Scott Dixon, Honda, 55, Running
2. (3) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 55, Running
3. (1) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 55, Running
4. (4) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 55, Running
5. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 55, Running
6. (10) Charlie Kimball, Honda, 55, Running
7. (11) Ed Jones, Honda, 55, Running
8. (6) Graham Rahal, Honda, 55, Running
9. (7) Max Chilton, Honda, 55, Running
10. (19) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 55, Running
11. (13) Carlos Munoz, Chevrolet, 55, Running
12. (14) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 55, Running
13. (15) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 55, Running
14. (12) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 55, Running
15. (21) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 55, Running
16. (18) JR Hildebrand, Chevrolet, 55, Running
17. (17) Esteban Gutierrez, Honda, 55, Running
18. (8) Marco Andretti, Honda, 54, Running
19. (20) Takuma Sato, Honda, 54, Running
20. (9) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 53, Running
21. (16) Tony Kanaan, Honda, 44, Contact
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 123.431 mph
Time of Race: 1:47:18.9870
Margin of victory: 0.5779 of a second
Cautions: 2 for 3 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 4 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Castroneves 1-12
Newgarden 13-14
Castroneves 15-19
Newgarden 20-30
Dixon 31-42
Kimball 43
Dixon 44-55
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Dixon 379, Pagenaud 345, Castroneves 342, Sato 323, Newgarden 318, Power 316, Rahal 307, Kanaan 273, Rossi 271, Jones 254.