UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Dixon reigns at Kansas

Champion returns to 2008 form

Scott Dixon has won the IndyCar Series race at Kansas. The Ganassi driver held off Helio Castroneves (Penske) and Tony Kanaan (AGR) after a hard-fought battle. His team-mate and points leader Dario Franchitti crashed out.

Following a disappointing start to his 2009 campaign, reigning champion Scott Dixon re-ignited his title ambitions with a win on the first oval of the season. The New Zealander took an early lead from polesitter Grahal Rahal and continued to dominate most of the 200-lap race.

The first oval race of the season turned out to be a very difficult one. In the wake of a tornado on Saturday, the drivers had to cope with violent gusts of wind on the 1.5-mile oval, making the close racing ever so challenging. The Indycars also faced a rain threat but eventually managed to run the full 300-mile distance.

While Dixon took control, his closest rivals had many more obstacles to overcome. Title contenders Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti had to start from the back of the pack following a grid penalty. The two dropped below the bottom line of the race track during their qualifying runs. Both drivers however quickly charged through the field to get back into contention for the win.

Castroneves converted his strong run into a second-placed finish, despite running into the back of Vitor Meira and damaging his front wing. Franchitti has much less to be pleased about. Coming down to pit road for his final stop of the day, the Scotsman seemingly carried too much speed on the pit entry road, locked up his front wheels and veered straight off into the wall.

As the yellow came out and the pitlane closed, Long Beach winner Ryan Briscoe was already heading for his pitbox. Race control forced Briscoe to delay his stop, meaning he had to do an unneccesary drive-through and lost too many positions to challenge for the lead. The Aussie still managed to finish fourth, ahead of the Andretti-Green duo Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan suprised the IndyCar paddock by locking out the front row in qualifying, but found themselves out of form against the big teams on race day. Polesitter Graham Rahal had a pretty strong race, but slipped back to seventh, ahead of Mutoh (AGR), Carpenter (Vision) and Wheldon (Panther) who complete the top ten.

His team-mate Robert Doornbos finished one lap down in twelfth. The Dutchman made an excellent first pitstop under yellow to get into the lead, but clipped a tyre waiting to be put on his team-mate's car. Bobby D was subsequently sent to the back of the grid for the restart and couldn't seem to find enough speed during the rest of the race.

Tony Kanaan now tops the point standings with a one-point lead over Ryan Briscoe. Dario Franchitti is four points behind the Brazilian. After his first win of the season, Scott Dixon has moved up to fourth.

The teams now head back home to Indianapolis to prepare for next month's 93rd running of the Indy 500.

Full race results:

1. Scott Dixon - Ganassi
2. Helio Castroneves - Penske
3. Tony Kanaan - Andretti-Green
4. Ryan Briscoe - Penske
5. Danica Patrick - Andretti-Green
6. Marco Andretti - Andretti-Green
7. Graham Rahal - Newman/Haas/Lanigan
8. Hideki Mutoh - Andretti-Green
9. Ed Carpenter - Vision
10. Dan Wheldon - Panther
11. Mario Moraes - KV
12. Robert Doornbos - Newman/Haas/Lanigan
13. Sarah Fisher - Sarah Fisher
14. Justin Wilson - Dale Coyne
15. Ryan Hunter-Reay - Vision
16. Milka Duno - Dreyer & Reinbold
17. Stanton Barrett - 3G
18. Dario Franchitti - Ganassi
19. Mike Conway - Dreyer & Reinbold
20. Raphael Matos - Luczo Dragon
21. E.J. Viso - HVM
22. Vitor Meira - A.J. Foyt

Filip Cleeren

Written: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:52:04