Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon beat team-mate Felix Rosenqvist to the chequered flag by just 0.09s in a nail-biting finish to the Honda Indy 200.
Dixon had to fend off Rosenqvist who had chased him down in the final laps of the race. The Swede attempted a move on the final lap of the race at the keyhole and the pair made contact but both escaped unscathed.
The reigning series champion now moves within 62 points of the current championship leader Josef Newgarden who crashed out on the final lap after clashing with Ryan Hunter-Reay whilst trying to fight for a podium spot.
Rosenqvist initially looked to be on a two-stop strategy akin to Dixon but switched it up at the halfway point after getting held up by the Carlin of RC Enerson.
He closed up to Dixon quickly as the laps went by, but struggled to get past lapped traffic after running out of push-to-pass earlier in the race.
Despite Dixon's struggles, Rosenqvist hounded his team-mate right to the chequered flag to take his first podium of his IndyCar career.
Hunter-Reay rounded out the podium places in third after running a well-executed three-stop strategy for Andretti Autosport, though his race nearly came undone after contact with Newgarden on the final lap, but was able to remain on the circuit, unlike the Penske driver.
Will Power crossed the line in fourth ahead of Alexander Rossi as the duo battled throughout the race. Power also got punchy early on in the race whilst trying to fend off Dixon with the pair making contact.
With Newgarden's calamitous final lap, Rossi has now closed to within 16 points of the championship lead after taking fifth place in the #27 NAPA Auto Parts entry.
Simon Pagenaud finished sixth as the Indy 500 winner struggled to match the pace of the leaders.
Ed Carpenter Racing's Spencer Pigot had a great day behind the wheel of the #21 AutoGeek car as he climbed from his 13th place starting position to finish in seventh.
Colton Herta held on for eighth. The 19-year old didn’t have the smoothest race though as he and four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais tangled in the early stages of the race, spinning the Frenchman around at the Keyhole on lap 15.
Graham Rahal finished in ninth as he was one of the first drivers to stop in the race as he ran an aggressive three-stop strategy.
Rounding out the top ten was Jack Harvey as he performed well upon his IndyCar return after spending two races out due to his limited schedule.
Bourdais had to settle for 11th place after a strong starting position but lost places after his tangle with Herta.
Enerson would finish in 17th place for Carlin after his first IndyCar race in almost three years.
The Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports pair of James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson saw their race spoilt on the opening lap as Takuma Sato tagged the Swede in Turn 4, this caused Ericsson to hit his team-mate causing damage to both cars.
Hinchcliffe was able to get his #5 car repaired and was able to return to the race several laps down.
The NTT IndyCar Series will return to action on August 16-18 at Pocono Raceway for the ABC Supply 500.
Discussion about this post