The New Zealand driver dominated from the outset of the IndyCar Grand Prix at the Watkins Glen road circuit, a day after smashing the lap record to qualify on pole position.
Advertisement
Dixon led all three practice sessions prior to qualifying and shattered the 7-year-old track record held by Ryan Briscoe by 5.6 seconds. The left side of Power’s auto hit the barrier, ending his race.
Dixon is tied third in the standings with Penske’s Helio Castroneves and 104 points out of the lead, and that’s the number of points available in Sonoma’s double-points weekend.
Power had originally been set to sit out the final session alongside championship leader and teammate Simon Pagenaud, who missed out on the Fast Six for the first time in 2016.
Sebastien Bourdais will start third on the grid at the Watkins Glen International on Sunday after an exciting qualifying, although the Frenchman once again found it a struggle to get the supposedly faster red-walled Firestone tyre to work.
In the race, the No. 9 Target auto enjoyed a similar advantage and in a change of luck compared to a couple occasions earlier in the year (notably at Toronto), the yellow flags fell Dixon’s way and he was essentially unchallenged. Once the green flag dropped, he was flawless in his No. 9 for Chip Ganassi Racing, consistently opening big leads and saving enough fuel over the final laps to win by 16.5 seconds in a flawless performance both on the track and in the pits. We were looking really, really good.
Rahal, who started 20th after being penalized in qualifying on Saturday, finished 21st. NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network have live coverage of the race beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
Advertisement
Unless his Team Penske teammate Will Power stages a remarkable comeback in the last race of the IndyCar Series season, Simon Pagenaud should emerge from the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma in two weeks with a season championship. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:22.5742 (146.922) 3. Last year, Scott Dixon erased a 47-point deficit to Juan Pablo Montoya by winning the race as Montoya finished sixth. Through a cycle of stops, James Hinchcliffe and Castroneves took their turns out front for a couple of laps each. He was racing Charlie Kimball for 14th place when Kimball got a run on him, committed to the outside and contact ensued. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:26.4285 (140.370) 19.
