Scott Dixon’s bid for a second straight IndyCar Series championship got a huge boost Saturday after the Chip Ganassi Racing driver won the Indy Japan 300 in dominating fashion at Twin Ring Motegi.
“It’s definitely what we needed,” Dixon said. “We needed to have a few problems on the Penske side, and that was definitely true today.” MiamiHerald.com
Dixon leads the standings with 570 points followed by Franchitti, who has 565.
Ryan Briscoe, who went into the race with a 25-point lead over Franchitti and a 32-point lead over Dixon, finished 18th and has 562 points. Danica Patrick, who won last year’s race, was sixth. Seattle Times
Results Saturday of the Indy Japan 300 IndyCar Series event at the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (3) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (5) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (7) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (2) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (6) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (14) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (8) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (12) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (21) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
11. (23) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
12. (9) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
13. (11) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
14. (22) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
15. (18) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
16. (19) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
17. (16) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 195, Running
18. (4) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 185, Running
19. (20) Stanton Barrett, Dallara-Honda, 182, Running
20. (17) Roger Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 172, Running
21. (15) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 157, Contact
22. (13) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 103, Contact
23. (10) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 83, Mechanical
Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 163.400 mph
Time of race: 1:51:37.6411
Margin of victory: 1.4475 seconds
Cautions: 2 caution flags for 23 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 4 drivers
Lap leaders: Dixon 1-49, Franchitti 50-102, Briscoe 103-106, Dixon 107, Briscoe 108, Dixon 109-160, Rahal 161-163, Dixon 164-200.
Point standings: Dixon 570, Franchitti 565, Briscoe 562, Castroneves 403, Patrick 381, Andretti 368, Rahal 366, Kanaan 354, Wheldon 342, Wilson 334.
| 
|