Sorry Team Penske, but Sunday was Scott Dixon’s time to shine.
The Kohler Grand Prix was shaping up to be a dominating day for Penske with the team occupying the first four spots on the starting grid. Dixon had other plans, however, and the Chip Ganassi Racing driver broke through to beat them all at the iconic Road America track in scenic Elkhart Lake, Wis.
The turning point came on lap 31 when Dixon got the jump on Josef Newgarden for the lead shortly after a restart. Dixon led 24 of the final 25 laps and held off the Penske crew of Newgarden, Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power to the finish line.
Dixon drove a phenomenal race and was well deserving of his first win of the season and 41st of his career. The victory also came just a month after Dixon walked away from a frightening crash at the Indianapolis 500 where his car launched airborne and smashed sideways into the infield wall.
It was only a matter of time until Dixon found his way back into victory lane and the 36-year-old from New Zealand is now just one behind Michael Andretti for third place on the all-time IndyCar wins list. We’re past the midway point of the season with seven races to go, so Dixon’s march on the record books is definitely one story line to keep in mind during the second half.
Another is the chase for the title with Dixon now building a 34-point cushion on reigning champ Pagenaud for the top spot on the leaderboard. Dixon is the eighth different winner through 10 races this season, which is why a solid string of consistency — the Indy 500 is the only race Dixon has finished outside of the top 10 — has given him an edge and on target for a fifth series championship.
Castroneves close again
Castroneves was looking like the driver who would score his first win of 2017 at Road America after starting on pole position for the third time this season and 50th of his career. Instead, Castroneves was forced to settle for third place as his winless streak extended to 53 races. The Brazilian driver has been so close to snapping the drought but for one reason or another hasn’t been able to find the victory.
This time it all came apart when Castroneves entered the pits a lap early for his final stint. That miscommunication mistake put Castroneves in fuel-saving mode in the end and you could pretty much feel the frustration as a potential win had slipped away.
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More bad luck for Hinchcliffe
The bad breaks continued for James Hinchcliffe after an incident on lap 31 with Will Power derailed the 30-year-old Canadian driver’s race.
Hinchcliffe and Power were fighting for seventh after the restart, when the Oakville, Ont., native hit the apex of a curve, made contact with Power and bounced off course. That shuffled Hinchcliffe to the back of the field and an extra pit stop for a new nose cone and steering arm put him a couple laps down. The lengthy 4.014-mile track meant Hinchcliffe was in tough to regain any ground and without any lucky cautions to bunch up the field it effectively knocked him out of the race.
It’s been a difficult stretch of late for Hinchcliffe following crashes at Indy and Texas as well as an engine failure in the second Detroit race. Hinchcliffe managed to finish the Kohler GP in 20th, so although it wasn’t another DNF, it’s still a small silver lining. The good news is the Verizon IndyCar Series now heads to Iowa where Hinchcliffe has done well in the past with a victory in 2013.
Wickens almost makes IndyCar debut
Hinchcliffe’s teammate Mikhail Aleshin came close to missing the Kohler GP. The Russian driver competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last week and was stuck in France due to immigration issues preventing him from re-entering the U.S.
Canadian Robert Wickens, who rose up the junior ranks alongside Hinchcliffe, climbed aboard the No. 7 Honda for Friday’s practice sessions. Once Aleshin sorted out his visa problem, he was back behind the wheel in time and netted 10th place.
Wickens races for Mercedes-AMG in the DTM series based in Germany, so it was nice to see the Guelph, Ont., native back in North America if only for a day. Who knows if this opens the door for another IndyCar opportunity for Wickens in the future, but having another Canadian on the grid can only be a good thing in helping the series expand its popularity north of the border.
