Ryan Briscoe upset the script by winning the Sonoma IndyCar race this morning but Will Power edged closer to clinching his maiden title.
After dominating the first half of the race Power lost out after slowing for an accident and a tardy pit stop which propelled Briscoe to the lead.
Briscoe held sway and Power had to hold off a determined Dario Franchitti to finish second.
Power extended his lead in the Championship after problems struck his maiden threats, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Kiwi Scott Dixon. The Toowoomba driver now leads Hunter-Reay by 36 points with two races remaining.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was spun around when in fourth position on the hairpin on a restart with 11 laps to go and was shuffled back to 20th position. He finished 18th after the confrontation with Alex Tagliani.
“He’s (Tagliani) an idiot. He’s known for doing that,” Ryan Hunter-Reay fumed. “It’s usual Tagliani, he’s thinking right in front of himself.”
Scott Dixon had a troubled race which started on lap 11 when he was turned around after Helio Castroneves misjudged his braking and clipped the Kiwi’s right-rear tyre. Three laps later Dixon was called into the pits to try to make the most of an early stop when the Ganassi team stuck on red tyres.
Later Dixon would have an off-course excursion and then had to serve a drive-through penalty after running over pit equipment.
Dixon’s faint Championship hopes have all but been extinguished as he finished 13th.
Sonoma Results
| 1 | Ryan Briscoe | running |
| 2 | Will Power | running |
| 3 | Dario Franchitti | running |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | running |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | running |
| 6 | Helio Castroneves | running |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | running |
| 8 | JR Hilderbrand | running |
| 9 | Alex Tagliani | running |
| 10 | Tony Kanaan | running |
| 11 | Justin Wilson | running |
| 12 | James Jakes | running |
| 13 | Scott Dixon | running |
| 14 | Mike Conway | running |
| 15 | Sebastian Sevaadra | running |
| 16 | EJ Viso | running |
| 17 | Simona de Silvestro | running |
| 18 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | running |
| 19 | Orial Servia | running |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter | running |
| 21 | Charlie Kimball | running |
| 22 | Sebastien Bourdais | contact |
| 23 | Josef Newgarden | contact |
| 24 | Katherine Legge | Mechanical |
| 25 | Marco Andretti | Mechanical |
| 26 | James Hinchcliffe | Mechanical |
| 27 | Takuma Sato | Mechanical |
Full IndyCar standings
| 1 | Will Power | 422 |
| 2 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 386 |
| 3 | Helio Castroneves | 381 |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | 368 |
| 5 | Simon Pagenaud | 337 |
| 6 | Tony Kanaan | 327 |
| 7 | James Hinchcliffe | 326 |
| 8 | Ryan Briscoe | 317 |
| 9 | Dario Franchitti | 306 |
| 10 | Graham Rahal | 286 |
| 11 | JR Hilderbrand | 257 |
| 12 | Justin Wilson | 253 |
| 13 | Oriol Servia | 249 |
| 14 | Rubens Barrichello | 247 |
| 15 | Takuma Sato | 243 |
| 16 | Marco Andretti | 237 |
| 17 | Alex Tagliani | 236 |
| 18 | Charlie Kimball | 228 |
| 19 | Mike Conway | 219 |
| 20 | EJ Viso | 212 |
| 21 | James Jakes | 202 |
| 22 | Ed Carpenter | 199 |
| 23 | Josef Newgarden | 186 |
| 24 | Sebastien Bourdais | 161 |
| 25 | Simona de Silvestro | 160 |
| 26 | Katherine Legge | 115 |
| 27 | Sebastian Sevaadra | 29 |
| 28 | Ana Beatriz | 28 |
| 29 | Townsend Bell | 26 |
| 30 | Georgio Pantano | 16 |
| 31 | Michel Jourdain | 16 |
| 32 | Bryan Clausen | 13 |
| 33 | Wade Cunningham | 13 |
| 34 | Jean Alesi | 13 |
