IndyCar

Dixon eases to GP of Indy victory as caution period thwarts Power

Scott Dixon eased to his first win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course after a caution period thwarted polesitter Will Power in the second IndyCar race of the season.

Power dominated the opening stages of the Grand Prix of Indy until the Arrow McLaren SP of Oliver Askew slid backwards into the barriers at the flatout final corner just before the halfway mark.

Rookie Askew’s stricken car brought out a caution period which could not have come at a worse time for Team Penske’s Power as he ended up dropping down to 13th after making his second pitstop.

Power’s recovery attempts were hampered by a sloppy final pitstop, when he stalled exiting his box as he eventually finished down in 20th place.

Dixon, who had finished runner-up in the previous three Indianapolis road course races, had already made his second pitstop prior to the caution period and ran in fourth place when the race re-started.

The three drivers running ahead of the five-time series champion – led by Graham Rahal – were all running on a two-stop strategy in comparison to the three-stopping Dixon.

Dixon quickly dispatched Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Spencer Pigot to move into second place behind race leader Rahal.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon eased past Rahal on the run to Turn 1 just a couple of laps later and built a five-second race lead over the next two laps.

This gap only continued to grow in the final phase of the race, with Dixon claiming his second successive race victory in dominant fashion, leading Rahal by almost 20 seconds at the chequered flag.

Rahal fended off a late challenge from reigning Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud to claim second place, which marked his best result in the series since the opening race of 2018.

Pagenaud battled back from a difficult qualifying session, which had left him 20th on the grid, to claim the final spot on the podium.

Colton Herta claimed fourth place for Andretti Autosport ahead of Dutch rookie Rinus VeeKay, who picked up fifth place in only his second-ever IndyCar race.

Marcus Ericsson earned his best IndyCar result in sixth place since his maiden podium at Detroit last year.

Reigning IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden was running in second place behind his Penske team-mate Power (above) prior to the caution period.

Newgarden made a late final pitstop and took seventh place ahead of Pato O’Ward – in the top 10 for the first time with Arrow McLaren SP after racing part-time for Carlin last year.

Santino Ferrucci bounced back from early pitstop woes to pick up ninth place with Takuma Sato rounding out the top 10.

Alexander Rossi’s difficult 2020 season continued as he retired with a suspected fuel-pressure issue as the race re-started following Askew’s incident.

Result (80 laps)

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1h41m59.3232s
2 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan 1h42m19.2701s 19.9469s
3 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske 1h42m19.8874s 20.5642s
4 Colton Herta Andretti Harding 1h42m24.4114s 25.0882s
5 Rinus Van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing 1h42m24.9593s 25.6361s
6 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing 1h42m25.0365s 25.7133s
7 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1h42m31.2205s 31.8973s
8 Patricio O’Ward McLaren SP 1h42m33.1595s 33.8363s
9 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing 1h42m42.3701s 43.0469s
10 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan 1h42m44.2145s 44.8913s
11 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport 1h42m45.4906s 46.1674s
12 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing 1h42m49.3006s 49.9774s
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1h42m49.8124s 50.4892s
14 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport 1h42m51.5404s 52.2172s
15 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 1h42m56.0116s 56.6884s
16 Max Chilton Carlin 1h42m59.5549s 1m00.2317s
17 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing 1h43m03.1689s 1m03.8457s
18 Charlie Kimball A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1h43m04.8424s 1m05.5192s
19 Alex Palou Dale Coyne Racing 1h43m05.8014s 1m06.4782s
20 Will Power Team Penske 1h43m10.9361s 1m11.6129s
21 Dalton Kellett A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1h42m08.3660s 1 Lap
22 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1h43m01.2152s 1 Lap
23 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold 1h43m01.2981s 1 Lap
24 Spencer Pigot Citrone Buhl 1h37m21.6966s Mechanical
25 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 1h21m29.6706s Mechanical
26 Oliver Askew McLaren SP 42m09.9799s Contact

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