Dario Franchitti finally won at Infineon Raceway, leading from start to finish Sunday to take his first Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma — the final road-course race of the IRL IndyCar Series season.
Franchitti had the pole and led all 75 laps, topping runner-up Ryan Briscoe — the series points leader — on the way to his fourth victory of the year. Franchitti and Briscoe avoided a multiple-car crash early on Lap 1 on the 12-turn, 2.303-mile course. Scott Dixon, the points leader entering the race and Franchitti’s teammate with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, finished 13th after stalling in the wreck. Seattle Times
Franchitti said he decided against trying to open a bigger lead on Briscoe. “It was kind of a decision of: Do you push hard and try to build a gap or do you save fuel and just kind of control? ” he said. “We decided to save fuel and control the pace.”
Briscoe said he “couldn’t do anything behind Dario” but didn’t find enough opportunities to use his full allotment of push-to-pass accelerations. The push-to-pass buttons were installed on all the cars this year, supposedly to make the racing more exciting. San Francisco Chronicle
Franchitti celebrated in the Wine Country Winner’s Circle by toasting the exuberant fans with the Champion’s Goblet, then taking a sip of Maximus wine from Bennett Lane Winery.
“I did what I had to do and kept the car on pace,” said Franchitti, who notched the 12th IndyCar Series win of his career. “We had a great day.”
Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe made it an exciting race, sticking to Franchitti like glue, but he could never make the pass. Franchitti took the checkers by. 2488 seconds and was followed by Briscoe and Mike Conway (Dreyer & Reinbold). It was a best-career finish for Conway, a rookie.
“I was pressuring him, doing what I could, but he wouldn’t budge, he wouldn’t make mistakes,” Briscoe said. “It was just one of those days.”
Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi), who entered the race leading the point standings, was involved in an eight-car crash on the first lap at Turn 2, and finished 13th. Briscoe leaves Sonoma with the points lead, by four, over Franchitti with three races remaining (497-493). Dixon is third (477).
The win avenged a tough outing in Sonoma in 2007 when Franchitti, who was leading, and Marco Andretti tangled with eight laps to go, giving Dixon an opening to pass Franchitti and take the win.
Franchitti became the fifth different driver in five years to win in Sonoma – Tony Kanaan (2005); Andretti (2006); Dixon (2007); and Helio Castroneves (2008).
Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves was involved in a late incident and finished well off the pace. Danica Patrick (Andretti Green Racing) was involved in the lap 1 accident and also finished off the pace.
| 
|