Wearing the traditional Watkins Glen winning wreath, Scott Dixon gives victory cheer. [Joe Jennings Photo]
By Joe Jennings
Watkins Glen, N. Y. – Scott Dixon soundly thrashed the Verizon IndyCar Series field at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, winning the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen Presented by Hitachi for the fourth time.
Taking the lead at the start, Dixon immediately pulled away from the other 21 cars, building up commanding leads. At the end, the victor’s margin of victory was a staggering 16 seconds. In total, he led 50 of the 60 laps run on the 3.4-mile road course.
Dixon won for the 40th time in his career, breaking a tie for fourth place with Al Unser Sr. His Chip Ganassi Racing team chalked up its 102nd open-wheel win.
“These are the weekends that are great. Even though we had been fast in practice and got the pole, you are thinking that strategies or mechanical issues won’t go your way. A lot of it is what the team does,” Dixon said. “But the car was fantastic, and I love coming here. This track is old-school, being one of the great American tracks, and we are lucky to be back here to race. It was great to see so many fans here, given the short period of time the track had to get ready for it. Actually, I would like to have a double-points race here.”
For a road course win, Dixon thought it was one of his most dominant races.
During the post-race press conference, Dixon said he was donating his race winnings to Justin Wilson’s family.
The 202-mile race was completed at a rapid clip – 1 hour and 41 minutes at an average speed of 119.334 miles per hour.
The running order changed often in the closing laps as team fuel strategies played out.
When the checkered flag dropped, Josef Newgarden had nailed down second place.
Third went to Helio Castroneves, who had been up and down in the running order.
Rookie Conor Daly advanced from 17th to fourth followed by Sebastien Bourdais, who bounced back from a first-turn tangle with Juan Pablo Montoya on the opening lap.
Sixth through 10th-place finishers were Charlie Kimball, point leader Simon Pagenaud and rookies Alexander Rossi, RC Enerson and Max Chilton.
Championship contender Will Power ended up 20th after crashing out of race on lap 38.
With this result, Pagenaud leads Power by 43 points going into last race of season in two weeks.
Crashes also eliminated Graham Rahal and Mikhail Aleshin.
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