IndyCar
Scott Dixon took another step toward a second IndyCar championship, holding off Helio Castroneves to win the Rexall Edmonton Indy in Alberta.
The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished almost six seconds ahead of Helio Castroneves in a timed race over the 1.973-mile temporary airport circuit. Justin Wilson was third followed by Oriol Servia and Canadian Paul Tracy.
Dixon said: “Helio drove a great race. I don’t think you could fault him on anything he did. He was definitely very fast. I think in the end, our combination was just that little bit better, and that’s how we won the race.”
In two other road-course races this season, Dixon finished 22nd at St Petersburg while he spun under caution at Watkins Glen before eventually finishing 11th.
Dixon added: “I think we’ve actually been decent on the road courses. I just made a silly mistake at Watkins and the other was a tough one.”
“I’ve got to thank the team,” Dixon said. “We were struggling at the start of the weekend. We were probably at best about 11th. So, to come through is simply not what we expected. But my guys nailed that [last] pit stop and we got that lead and we were going to be unstoppable.”
Castroneves led a race-high 35 laps and appeared to have the best car in the 27-car field most of the day. But Dixon, who had been running third behind Penske Racing teammates Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, got past both during a pit stop under caution on lap 51.
Several other drivers, on different strategies, stayed out and were ahead at that point, but Dixon eventually inherited the lead when Tony Kanaan pitted on lap 62. The Indianapolis 500 winner then led the rest of the way.
Castroneves did his best to catch the leader until he locked up his brakes and skidded through turn one on lap 86. He recovered in time to stay in second, but fell too far behind to make another run in the race, scheduled to go 95 laps but cut four laps short by a one-hour, 50-minute time limit.
“Not only did he not make any mistakes, but he did what he had to do today,” said Mike Hull, team director for Chip Ganassi Racing. “Scott drove a good, patient race with an Indy 500 champion like Helio behind him. That’s a tough thing to be doing when that guy fills your mirrors.”
Castroneves agreed.
“I was doing everything I could, pushing, putting pressure (on Dixon) until my tires just gave up,” said the frustrated Castroneves, who finished second for the seventh time this season. “You know, he never made a mistake.
“I don’t know what to do. I’ll just keep working hard. It ain’t over yet. It ain’t over yet.”
“It was fantastic,” Dixon said of the race. “You’re making dives on people back in the pack who you didn’t even think you would be racing. PT (Paul Tracy) was making dives, (Graham) Rahal was making dives, it was all going on. At some point I think we were four or five wide going into turn 11 so I had a lot of fun. Add all the fans and these are the races we need to come to.”
The result gave Dixon 505 points and increased his lead over Castroneves to 65 with five races remaining.
| 
| 