RacingNation.com
Home / IndyCar Series / Dixon Dominates Indy Japan 300 To Take Over Points Lead

Dixon Dominates Indy Japan 300 To Take Over Points Lead

Scott Dixon dominated the Indy Japan 300 to win his fifth victory of the season at Twin Ring Motegi. With the win Dixon took over the IndyCar Series points lead with one race remaining (Homestead).

Dixon, started from the pole position in his Target-Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Honda led the most laps, 149 of 200 laps. Dixon took the lead for good on the 164th lap and finished 1.4475 seconds ahead of Target Chip Ganassi teammate Dario Franchitti. The race was dominated by the duo as they led 192 of the 200 laps. Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal finished third and also led three laps. After starting shotgun on the front row, Mario Moraes of KV Racing , had his career best IndyCar race even overcoming an early pit miscue to finish fifth. It was Moraes’ third consecutive top five. Andretti-Green Racing’s Danica Patrick, who won at Twin Ring Motegi last year, finished sixth.

Dixon said in victory lane, “A fantastic day for Team Target. A 1-2. For me it’s tremendous. It’s a track I’ve always wanted to win in. I kind of put Motegi just below the Indy 500. It’s a very difficult circuit. I remember coming here in the early years and competing for different engine manufacturers and how much emphasis is put on this race. If you have a fast car, you can still get to the front. Put on a good show. Over the moon. Definitely a good day for points and very happy.”

This is Scott Dixon’s fifth win of the season and the 21st of his IndyCar Series career. His last win came at Mid-Ohio. It is the 22nd win of Scott Dixon’s open-wheel career tying Tony Bettenhausen, Helio Castroneves, Emerson Fittipaldi and Dario Franchitti for 16th on the list of all-time open-wheel wins. This is Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s ninth win of the season and its 33rd win in the IndyCar Series.

It was a tough race for Team Penske as Ryan Briscoe, who entered the race as the points leader, saw his chances winning the race and all but clinch the series championship dwindle after he made a mistake after a pit stop on Lap 106. As the No. 6 Team Penske car exited pit lane, Briscoe swerved as he lit up the tires, brushed the inside retaining wall and ran over a cone at the end of the pit lane. After multiple pit stops to repair the damage, he rejoined the race, but had dropped to 19th. Teammate Helio Castroneves struggled to finish tenth.

Dan Wheldon was running third in his Panther Racing National Guard Dallara-Honda when pit strategy set him back. “It was really good to be back and running up front again, and obviously from the entire Panther Racing team standpoint I feel everybody did an excellent job. The engineering staff made a big change last night for the race and it was very positive and I could see that it made the car very nice to drive today and certainly when catching lapped traffic I was able to make a lot of time up. Unfortunately it was one of those things for us today; we got caught on the yellow flag. But like I said everybody here has come here and put a lot of effort into this weekend and unfortunately they weren’t rewarded. We again showed that we can run with the best.”

Two accidents marred the race as Mike Conway and Ryan Hunter-Reay hit the SAFER carrier. Conway appeared uninjured, however Hunter-Reay suffered some minor abrasions to his right knee. On the 158th lap Hunter-Reay spun coming through turn four and the car backed hard into the wall and whipped around with the left side, coming to a halt at the exit of turn four. “We had a decent start as I passed a couple cars on the first few laps,” said Hunter-Reay. “We started with way too much push in turns 3 and 4, so on the first stop we added some front wing, which gave us more front grip at turn four but made the car loose on exits. There were a few times I nearly lost the ABC Supply car in turns 2 and 4 but was able to save it.

“We were also handicapped all day to a fuel cell leak that made us pit 4-5 laps earlier than most of the rest of the field,” he added. “With all considered, we had an ok day going. On the last set of stops I had already put 2-3 laps on my tires as Kanaan, who we were fighting with for position, was coming out of the pits on cold tires. He entered turn 3 low and I entered high to set up a pass at the exit of turn. As he pushed wide at turn four I kept the car as low as possible and went back to power early to get the run out, but the rear immediately came around. It was a long day in the car, I got loose a few too many times and it finally bit me. It’s a shame because I really enjoy racing at this track in front of the Japanese crowds. It’s been a pretty tough year, but we’re determined to end on a high note in Homestead.” Hunter-Reay was credited with 21st place.

Dixon now leads the standings with 570 points, followed by Franchitti, who has 565. Briscoe, who went into the race with a 25-point lead over Franchitti and a 32-point lead over Dixon, finished 18th and has 562 points.

IndyCar media contributed to this report

Share Button