Dixon Leads 2019 Honda Indy 200 Podium Sweep at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON, Ohio, July 28, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The “Master of Mid-Ohio”, Scott Dixon, scored his sixth 2019 Honda Indy 200 victory Sunday, dominating the middle stage of the 90-lap contest and then holding off teammate Felix Rosenqvist on fading tires in the closing laps, taking the checkers by the narrow margin of 0.0934 seconds. Ryan Hunter-Reay completed a 1-2-3 sweep for Honda, finishing third, and his Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi closed to within 16 points of championship leader Josef Newgarden with a fifth-place finish.
Starting eighth on the hard-compound Firestone “Black” sidewall tires, Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing team was one of only three to successfully execute a two-pit-stop strategy. Not pitting until Lap 30, Dixon then ran the soft-compound “Red” sidewall tires to build a massive 12.5-second lead on the field by Lap 50. However, his team elected to run a second set of Red tires for the third and final stint of the race, and Dixon’s lead began to shrink rapidly in the final 15 laps.
“Oh man, that was crazy. I feel a little bit bad for [teammate] Felix [Rosenqvist], we had to put some moves on him for sure during the last few laps. I had nothing else I could do. If I wasn’t his teammate, I think he’d had me off! But a lot of respect there. But Felix is going to have a ton of wins [in his career]. We went too aggressive running a second set of [softer, alternate Firestone] ‘Reds’, but they held up at the end. Huge credit to the PNC team and Honda. They did a phenomenal job strategy-wise and making the car better for the race. This really helps our run for the championship, so just really proud we got it done today.” – Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda)
In the closing laps, Dixon had to deal with both a group of lapped cars attempting to unlap themselves, and rapidly closing rivals Rosenqvist, Hunter-Reay and Newgarden. On the final lap, Dixon and Rosenqvist made light contact in Turn 2, while Hunter-Reay and Newgarden had harder contact exiting the corner, sending Newgarden into the gravel trap and a 11th-place finish. Rosenqvist continued to challenge his teammate throughout the rest of the lap, but came up just short at the finish. Still, second-place is his best finish in his rookie IndyCar Series season and his first podium result.
Hunter-Reay survived the last-lap contact with Newgarden to finish third, his second podium of the year and first since the Circuit of the Americas. While not figuring in the battle for the win, Rossi’s fifth-place finish was his 10th top-five result of 2019, as he continues to battle Newgarden for the IndyCar Drivers’ Championship.
A large crowd, including approximately 10,000 Honda associates from multiple central Ohio Honda facilities, filled the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio road circuit as the 90-lap race ran caution-free for the second year in succession.
The NTT IndyCar Series now takes two weeks off before the final super-speedway race of the 2019 season, the August 18 ABC Supply Co., Inc., Pocono 500, at the unique, 2.5-mile tri-oval Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA.
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Top-10 Race Results |
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|
Fn. |
St. |
Driver |
Team |
Manufacturer |
Laps |
Notes |
|
1. |
8. |
Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
90 |
115.837 mph average |
|
2. |
6. |
Felix Rosenqvist-R |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
90 |
+0.0934 seconds |
|
3. |
10. |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
90 |
|
|
4. |
1. |
Will Power |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
90 |
|
|
5. |
2. |
Alexander Rossi |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
90 |
|
|
6. |
4. |
Simon Pagenaud |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
90 |
|
|
7. |
13. |
Spencer Pigot |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
Chevrolet |
90 |
|
|
8. |
7. |
Colton Herta-R |
Harding Steinbrenner |
Honda |
90 |
|
|
9. |
15. |
Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
Honda |
90 |
|
|
10. |
9. |
Jack Harvey |
Meyer Shank Racing |
Honda |
90 |
|
|
Other Honda Results |
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|
11. |
5. |
Sebastien Bourdais |
DCR with Vasser-Sullivan |
Honda |
90 |
Running |
|
12. |
14. |
Santino Ferrucci-R |
Dale Coyne Racing |
Honda |
90 |
Running |
|
15. |
19. |
Marco Andretti |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
89 |
Running |
|
19. |
17. |
Takuma Sato |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
Honda |
89 |
Running |
|
21. |
20. |
Zach Veach |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
90 |
Running |
|
22. |
11. |
James Hinchcliffe |
Arrow Schmidt Peterson |
Honda |
87 |
Running |
|
23. |
5. |
Marcus Ericsson-R |
Arrow Schmidt Peterson |
Honda |
2 |
Did not finish – contact |
SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD