Scott Dixon extended his recent streak of success at Mid-Ohio to four wins from the past six years with victory for Ganassi in this weekend’s IndyCar race.
Dixon, who previously won at the track in 2007, 2009 and last year, took the lead from Will Power during the final pitstops and controlled the race from that point on, eventually crossing the finish line almost 3.5 seconds ahead of Penske driver Power.
The Australian had largely given up the chase in the final laps, and was instead preoccupied with making sure that he protected second place against a surging Simon Pagenaud.
Pagenaud closed the gap down, but Power was able to hold on to the position and recapture the points lead from Ryan Hunter-Reay, whose afternoon was marred by a litany of setbacks culminating in his engine losing power and dropping him to the back of the field. The Andretti team retired him with a few laps to go.
Dragon’s Sebastien Bourdais was fourth after a robust scrap with his compatriot for the final podium position, with James Hinchcliffe benefiting on going off-strategy early on to climb from 15th to fifth.
The Canadian also had a hand in Dario Franchitti’s afternoon turning sour. Franchitti had started on the front row and lost a couple of places during the first round of stops, but was still in touch with the leaders when Hinchcliffe rejoined directly ahead of him after his second stop. The pair made contact while fighting over fifth, damaging the Ganassi car’s front wing and dropping Franchitti out of contention.
For the second race in succession, the entire distance was covered under green flags, resulting in the first back-to-back caution-free races since 1987.
Results - 85 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Scott Dixon Ganassi Dallara-Honda 1h39m48.5083s 2. Will Power Penske Dallara-Chevy + 3.4619s 3. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Dallara-Honda + 4.5402s 4. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Dallara-Chevy + 5.5822s 5. James Hinchcliffe Andretti Dallara-Chevy + 7.5663s 6. Tony Kanaan KV Dallara-Chevy + 12.3280s 7. Ryan Briscoe Penske Dallara-Chevy + 27.9601s 8. Marco Andretti Andretti Dallara-Chevy + 28.1691s 9. JR Hildebrand Panther Dallara-Chevy + 29.2325s 10. Alex Tagliani Herta Dallara-Honda + 31.1722s 11. Graham Rahal Ganassi Dallara-Honda + 31.4387s 12. Josef Newgarden Fisher Dallara-Honda + 32.0754s 13. Takuma Sato Rahal Dallara-Honda + 32.4073s 14. Giorgio Pantano Ganassi Dallara-Honda + 33.9166s 15. Rubens Barrichello KV Dallara-Chevy + 35.2863s 16. Helio Castroneves Penske Dallara-Chevy + 35.9205s 17. Dario Franchitti Ganassi Dallara-Honda + 36.9834s 18. Justin Wilson Coyne Dallara-Honda + 42.0974s 19. James Jakes Coyne Dallara-Honda + 46.4304s 20. EJ Viso KV Dallara-Chevy + 46.8068s 21. Mike Conway Foyt Dallara-Honda + 46.9535s 22. Ed Carpenter Carpenter Dallara-Chevy + 1 lap 23. Simona de Silvestro HVM Dallara-Lotus + 2 laps 24. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Dallara-Chevy + 6 laps 25. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy + 7 laps
