The 2019 NTT IndyCar Series witnessed a stunning year of highs and lows for everyone involved over the course of 17 races, Motorsport Week reflects on some of the key moments which encapsulated the gripping season. Finally, we take a look at yet another title that slipped through the fingers of Scott Dixon!
Consistency was the key to Dixon's fifth title in 2018 and he wanted to make 2019 the first year he secured back-to-back titles. His season got off to a fantastic start with four podium finishes in the opening six races, accompanied by strangely anonymous races at the Circuit of The Americas and in the Indy 500.
Despite this, the Kiwi was still firmly in the hunt, however, his season hit rocky ground as an uncharacteristic error in the first of two races in Detroit in completely sodden conditions. Dixon clipped the inside wall of Turn 6 which damaged the suspension and sent the Kiwi into the outside wall.
Dixon swiftly made amends for his crash the day before by taking victory in the second race of the weekend, with his championship hopes also turning back into his favour thanks to Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden both failing to finish the race after getting involved in accidents.
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From the peak of winning in Detroit, a week later in at the Texas Motor Speedway saw another low in his championship fight. Dixon put his #9 PNC Bank car on the front row alongside pole-sitter Takuma Sato. The race was running smoothly until a crash with the young Colton Herta from third place with just 20 laps to go.
Herta was on a charge towards the front of the field and went to make a move on Dixon into Turn 3, the youngster pulled out to take the inside line with Dixon swiftly going on the defensive but both were unwilling to yield and made contact. With Dixon out of the race and Newgarden taking a third win of the season, it looked a tall order to get back in the title hunt.
While it may have seemed like a tall hill to climb, Dixon's relentlessness is one of the reasons he is a five-time champion and it shone through in the races after Texas. Fifth place at Road America followed up by three second-place finishes and a nail-bitingly close victory at Mid-Ohio after fending off team-mate Felix Rosenqvist on the final lap, a mere 0.093s separating the pair across the finish line.
The win brought the Kiwi right back into the title fight, especially as Newgarden made his own mistake by dropping his #2 Penske into the gravel at the keyhole on the final lap, finishing 14th.
With four races to go and having brought himself right back into the heart of the battle for the 2019 championship, further problems arose as reliability would have the final say in his title charge. At Gateway a radiator problem saw the Kiwi have to retire the #9 car after just 70 laps.
Dixon attempted to fight fate with a fighting performance at the penultimate round in Portland. With title rivals Newgarden and Pagenaud at the back after getting knocked out in Q1, It had all looked to be going in his favour.
The race also looked to be going his way as he took the lead from struggling Herta on lap 37, Dixon cleared off into the distance, only reliability to come back and haunt him once more as his battery failed just 18 laps later which left the defending champion coasting into the pitlane, eventually the team swapped over the battery and got Dixon back into the race, he finished the race 16th and three laps down, effectively ending his title hopes having fallen 85 points behind Newgarden.
Going to the final race at Laguna Seca, he needed all three of his title rivals to not finish while he won the race. It was not to be and another chance at title glory had slipped away.
Going into his 20th season of open-wheel competition, Dixon will no doubt be a contender for the championship once again as he looks to right the wrongs of 2019 and claim title glory for a sixth time and be just one title away from the legendary AJ Foyt. Watch this space!
