Star Kiwi Scott Dixon has completed a clinical display to claim his 40th IndyCar Series win at Watkins Glen.
Chip Ganassi stalwart Dixon mastered a fuel strategy challenge to blitz the field and move to fourth on the all-time IndyCar winning list.
Josef Newgarden (Ed Carpenter Racing) was second, 16.5s adrift, while Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) clinched third after coming in for a splash and dash with three laps remaining.
James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Racing) exhausted his fuel tank a few corners from the finish of the 60 lap race, cruelly robbing him of a podium.
As the leading runners were forced into fuel saving mode, Simon Pagenaud lost a couple of positions inside the final 10 laps to finish seventh.
Chief rival Will Power’s race ended on Lap 39 when he had a heavy hit after an incident from the pursuing Charlie Kimball, with the Australian officially classified 20th.
Power was released from the medical centre but will have to undergo a final clearance ahead of the Sonoma finale in two weeks.
Kimball, who eventually finished sixth behind Sebastien Bourdais (KVSH Racing) and fourth-placed Conor Daly (Dale Coyne Racing) was also involved in an incident with Graham Rahal which ended the Texas winner’s race after 19 laps.
Pagenaud has extended his lead in the series to 43 over Power with a total of 104 available at the double points season ender in California.
The French driver was ordered by his engineer Ben Bretzman to save fuel during the final stint, frustrating the driver as he had to drop a couple of positions.
“I certainly I had to save a lot of fuel to finish the last stint without pitting again. I was yelling a bit on the radio saying, ‘I cannot make these numbers guys’.”
The Team Penske pair are now the only drivers in the running for the title.
Dixon, though, was in rare form all weekend, dominating practice, qualifying and the race.
“I think this was a Chevy Pulse or something it was electric. The fuel mileage was amazing,” Dixon said who donated his winnings to the Justin Wilson kids fund.
A broken rear suspension extinguished Tony Kanaan’s title hopes earlier before he finished 19th.
RESULT: Watkins Glen
|
Pos |
SP |
Car |
Driver |
C/A/E/T |
Lap |
Laps Down |
Time Down |
Pit Stops |
Elapsed Time |
Avg Speed |
Pts |
Running/Reason Out |
|
1 |
1 |
9 |
Scott Dixon |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
–.—- |
3 |
01:41:39.8592 |
119.334 |
54 |
Running |
|
2 |
12 |
21 |
Josef Newgarden |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
16.5308 |
3 |
01:41:56.3900 |
119.011 |
40 |
Running |
|
3 |
4 |
3 |
Helio Castroneves |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
21.4417 |
5 |
01:42:01.3009 |
118.916 |
36 |
Running |
|
4 |
17 |
18 |
Conor Daly(r) |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
24.3349 |
3 |
01:42:04.1941 |
118.860 |
32 |
Running |
|
5 |
3 |
11 |
Sebastien Bourdais |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
25.3815 |
3 |
01:42:05.2407 |
118.839 |
30 |
Running |
|
6 |
14 |
83 |
Charlie Kimball |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
29.4268 |
4 |
01:42:09.2860 |
118.761 |
28 |
Running |
|
7 |
7 |
22 |
Simon Pagenuad |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
31.1118 |
3 |
01:42:10.9710 |
118.728 |
26 |
Running |
|
8 |
15 |
98 |
Alexander Rossi(r) |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
32.0710 |
3 |
01:42:11.9302 |
118.710 |
24 |
Running |
|
9 |
11 |
19 |
RC Enerson(r) |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
32.3965 |
4 |
01:42:12.2557 |
118.703 |
22 |
Running |
|
10 |
6 |
8 |
Max Chilton(r) |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
32.9478 |
4 |
01:42:12.8070 |
118.693 |
20 |
Running |
|
11 |
16 |
26 |
Carlos Munoz |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
34.7869 |
3 |
01:42:14.6461 |
118.657 |
20 |
Running |
|
12 |
18 |
27 |
Marco Andretti |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
35.3813 |
4 |
01:42:15.2405 |
118.646 |
18 |
Running |
|
13 |
8 |
2 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
37.7024 |
4 |
01:42:17.5616 |
118.601 |
18 |
Running |
|
14 |
19 |
28 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
42.4644 |
3 |
01:42:22.3236 |
118.509 |
16 |
Running |
|
15 |
21 |
20 |
Spencer Pigot(r) |
D/C/C/F |
60 |
0 |
45.3829 |
3 |
01:42:25.2421 |
118.453 |
15 |
Running |
|
16 |
9 |
41 |
Jack Hawksworth |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
45.7584 |
3 |
01:42:25.6176 |
118.445 |
14 |
Running |
|
17 |
22 |
14 |
Takuma Sato |
D/H/H/F |
60 |
0 |
1:07.4937 |
4 |
01:42:47.3529 |
118.028 |
13 |
Running |
|
18 |
13 |
5 |
James Hinchcliffe |
D/H/H/F |
59 |
1 |
– |
3 |
01:40:27.2362 |
118.759 |
13 |
Running |
|
19 |
5 |
10 |
Tony Kanaan |
D/C/C/F |
59 |
1 |
– |
5 |
01:42:18.1502 |
116.613 |
11 |
Running |
|
20 |
2 |
12 |
Will Power |
D/C/C/F |
38 |
22 |
– |
2 |
01:05:46.7513 |
116.809 |
11 |
Contact |
|
21 |
20 |
15 |
Graham Rahal |
D/H/H/F |
19 |
41 |
– |
1 |
00:32:55.6995 |
116.672 |
9 |
Contact |
|
22 |
10 |
7 |
Mikhail Aleshin |
D/H/H/F |
14 |
46 |
– |
0 |
00:20:25.9571 |
138.543 |
8 |
Contact
|
Points standings
| 1 | Simon Pagenaud | 555 |
| 2 | Will Power | 512 |
| 3 | Scott Dixon | 451 |
| 4 | Helio Castroneves | 451 |
| 5 | Josef Newgarden | 446 |
| 6 | Tony Kanaan | 427 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | 403 |
| 8 | Carlos Munoz | 402 |
| 9 | Charlie Kimball | 389 |
| 10 | James Hinchcliffe | 380 |
| 11 | Alexander Rossi | 370 |
| 12 | Sebastien Bourdais | 364 |
| 13 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 364 |
| 14 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 363 |
| 15 | Mikhail Aleshin | 309 |
| 16 | Conor Daly | 295 |
| 17 | Marco Andretti | 291 |
| 18 | Takuma Sato | 288 |
| 19 | Max Chilton | 239 |
| 20 | Jack Hawksworth | 205 |
| 21 | Spencer Pigot | 149 |
| 22 | Gabby Chaves | 121 |
| 23 | J.R. Hildebrand | 84 |
| 24 | Oriol Servia | 72 |
| 25 | Ed Carpenter | 67 |
| 26 | Luca Filippi | 61 |
| 27 | Townsend Bell | 55 |
| 28 | Pippa Mann | 46 |
| 29 | Matthew Brabham | 37 |
| 30 | Alex Tagliani | 35 |
| 31 | R.C. Enerson | 33 |
| 32 | Sage Karam | 22 |
| 33 | Bryan Clauson | 21 |
| 34 | Stefan Wilson | 14 |
| 35 | Buddy Lazier | 12 |
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