Scott Dixon’s incredible winning streak continues with the Kiwi claiming a sublime third successive IndyCar Series victory, this time at Road America.
Dixon claimed the lead 15 laps from the chequered flag in the final round of pitstops which saw him emerge ahead of Penske’s Will Power.
The Australian, desperate to make amends after two woeful starts to his 2020 campaign, was hot on his rival’s heels.
A caution with only a handful of laps was waved when Conor Daly hit the wall after clashing with Pato O’Ward.
The restart bunched the field but a shrewd Dixon managed to keep Power at bay all the way to the line as further back Alex Palou made a spectacular pass on Hunter-Reay for third at Turn 1 to round out the podium.
Starting fifth, a sluggish getaway initial saw Dixon swamped off the line but the #9 Chip Ganassi Racer quickly settled into his rhythm.
Josef Newgarden led the 55-lap race from the pole, as the Andretti Autosport duo of Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti both had off track excursions of their own in wild opening lap.
Newgarden was in total cruise control until Lap 28 when his car stalled and failed to re-fire.
Penske teamamte Will Power took advantage of the situation to box early and gain an undercut.
A collected Dixon had worked himself into second before the race’s first caution came out when Jack Harvey crashed out at Turn 2 on Lap 38 due to a brake failure.
Dixon and Power both used the yellow flag to pit, and when the Kiwi narrowly emerged ahead of his rival on the exit his third successive victory was in sight.
Two late cautions did little to deter the driver they call the Iceman and Dixon claimed only his second victory at Road America and continues his vice-like grip on the championship.
The first caution was a result of Daly and O’Ward making contact and sent Daly’s Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy spinning hard into the outside wall.
A brief restart was neutralised once again as Kellett spun off the road to bring out the final caution in a wild race.
Dixon claimed his 49 career win with a comfortable margin of 2.5s over Power who was just 0.6s ahead of Palou at the line.
IndyCar will have one further race at Road America tomorrow morning from 4 am NZT.
| # | Driver | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Dixon | 01:54:09.8697 |
| 2 | Will Power | -2.5386 |
| 3 | Alex Palou | -3.1928 |
| 4 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | -3.9844 |
| 5 | Colton Herta | -7.2493 |
| 6 | Santino Ferrucci | -8.2004 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | -11.3554 |
| 8 | Pato O’Ward | -14.7846 |
| 9 | Takuma Sato | -15.0046 |
| 10 | Marcus Ericsson | -15.7661 |
| 11 | Charlie Kimball | -16.1702 |
| 12 | Simon Pagenaud | -17.6234 |
| 13 | Rinus VeeKay | -19.1144 |
| 14 | Josef Newgarden | -19.1842 |
| 15 | Oliver Askew | -20.9776 |
| 16 | Zach Veach | -22.6498 |
| 17 | Max Chilton | -37.4904 |
| 18 | Felix Rosenqvist | -1 lap |
| 19 | Alexander Rossi | -1 lap |
| 20 | Dalton Kellett | -1 lap |
| 21 | Conor Daly | -14 laps |
| 22 | Marco Andretti | -16 laps |
| 23 | Jack Harvey | -18 laps |