Scott Dixon celebrates in victory lane after scoring the win in Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race at Sonoma Raceway. Photo by Chris Jones
SONOMA, CA – Scott Dixon overtook race leader Mike Conway on lap 83 of 85 en route to a dramatic victory Sunday in the GoPro Grand Prix at Sonoma Raceway. The win was the 35th of Dixon’s Indy car career, putting him in a tie for fifth place on the all-time Indy car victory list with three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser.
Dixon, who started third in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, led Ryan Hunter-Reay across the finish line by 1.1359 seconds. Simon Pagenaud finished third after overtaking Conway, whose No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing car ran out of fuel and coasted across the finish line for a 14th-place finish.
Pagenaud, who started 15th in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car, joins Team Penske teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves as drivers eligible for the Verizon IndyCar Series championship. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Dixon remain championship eligible, but will be eliminated if Power participates in Friday practice at Auto Club Speedway, which would assure the Team Penske driver half points for the weekend.
Power takes a lead of 51 points over Castroneves and 81 points over Pagenaud to the two-mile Auto Club Speedway oval for the season-closing MAVTV 500 on Aug. 30. A total of 104 points are available in the final round of the Triple Crown series.
Power, who started on the pole and led a field-high 33 laps in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, was scored 10th after rebounding from a spin on Lap 40 that cost him eight positions to 20th.
“It took me by surprise when I spun. That’s just racing,” Power said. “I would have liked to have had a better finish, but the Verizon Chevy team will look to Fontana working towards the championship.”
Castroneves, whose No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske car was involved in contact on laps 1 and 36, finished 18th. He entered the race 40 points behind Power.
“This is just big for our team,” said Dixon. “It was tough because there were so many fuel strategies going on and they were just slightly off. I didn’t know who could make it and who couldn’t.”
Takuma Sato, who started 20th in the No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing car, finished a season-high fourth and Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske entry.
Twenty cars finished on the lead lap, tying a season high set in the Indianapolis 500. The 10 lead changes were the most for a Verizon IndyCar Series race at Sonoma Raceway.
Verizon IndyCar Series
Sonoma Raceway – Sonoma, CA
GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma – Aug. 24, 2014
1. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
2. (10) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
3. (15) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
4. (20) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
5. (19) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
6. (2) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
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8. (13) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
9. (16) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
10. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
11. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
12. (4) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
13. (8) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
14. (17) Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
15. (18) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
16. (22) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
17. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
18. (6) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 85, Running
19. (9) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
20. (14) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running
21. (11) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 84, Running
22. (21) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 28, Mechanical
Winners average speed: 94.026
Time of Race: 2:09:21.8064
Margin of victory: 1.1359 seconds
Cautions: 3 for 11 laps
Lead changes: 10 among 8 drivers
Lap Leaders: Power 1-16, Newgarden 17-18, Montoya 19, Power 20-36, Kanaan 37-39, Conway 40-59, Sato 60, Montoya 61-63, Rahal 64-81, Conway 82, Dixon 83-85
Point Standings: Power 626, Castroneves 575, Pagenaud 545, Hunter-Reay 534, Dixon 523, Montoya 519, Kanaan 443, Bourdais 437, Munoz 435, Andretti 424.
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