Marco Andretti has taken his first IZOD IndyCar Series race win in 79 races, taking a thrilling Iowa Corn Indy 250.
Under the lights at Iowa Speedway, the 24-year-old brought his long drought to an end.
Andretti overtook former Andretti Autosport team-mate Tony Kanaan on Lap 232 for the lead and went on to a 0.7932s victory.
It was a disappointing day for the former championship leader Will Power, though. The Australian endured an incident in pit lane early in the race before clouting the wall heavily on lap 90, giving himself minor concussion.
Fellow Aussie Ryan Briscoe finished sixth.
Andretti was thrilled with his win.
“We were down a little bit on the bigger ovals but we know when it comes down to handling we’d be OK,” said Andretti, who started 17th.
“These guys did a great job with pits. They got me the lead back. We had some good racing with T.K. It was good fun.”
Behind Kanaan was Kiwi Scott Dixon, who charged from 23rd on the starting grid to finish third while Target Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Dario Franchitti, who led the most laps, was fifth. Franchitti’s result has put him back to the top of the title standings.
Rookie JR Hildebrand, the Indianapolis 500 runner-up, passed Franchitti on Lap 242 for fourth place.
Seventh place went to Helio Castroneves from Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Danica Patrick.
