Scott Dixon ended his Long Beach hoodoo with a comfortable win on the southern Californian street circuit in Sunday’s IndyCar race.

The Ganassi driver was able to get around Juan Pablo Montoya early on to claim second, and then capitalised on a brief delay for then-leader Helio Castroneves during the first round of stops to leapfrog the Brazilian.

From that point on, he was never really under threat. By the third stint his lead over Castroneves was out to more than three seconds, and it settled to 2.2s when he crossed the line to take his first win at a venue where he had never previously finished higher than fourth.

Castroneves had a similarly straightforward run to the flag for second place, and it was left to the battle for third behind him to provide most of the late-race entertainment.

Initially it was a straight fight between Penske team-mates Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud, with Pagenaud pushing the Colombian hard right through the final stint.

Over the closing laps Tony Kanaan and Sebastien Bourdais closed in to make it a four-way fight, but nobody was able to make a move stick and the quartet crossed the line with their running order unchanged.

By Long Beach standards, the race was largely uneventful. The only caution period was early and brief; the cars spending just a couple of tours behind the safety car to allow a piece of debris to be retrieved on lap four.

The only real drama came during the first round of stops, when Luca Filippi stalled at the pit entry, and then Will Power did the same thing while trying to get around him.

Both were able to rejoin, but only after falling off the lead lap.

RESULTS – 80 laps

DRIVERS’ POINTS

Scott Dixon wins at Long Beach