Dixon takes back-to-back victory in Illinois

Scott Dixon has put on a fuel-saving masterclass to take victory in this morning’s IndyCar race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois to keep his slim title chances alive. It’s Dixon’s second consecutive win following his unlikely success at Indianapolis last round after a Lap 1 spin.

The Kiwi’s margin of victory over second-placed Pato O’Ward was 22 seconds, and third-placed finisher David Malukas was the only other driver to come home on the lead lap. The win is Dixon’s 55th of his career, extending his gap as the second most successful driver in the series of all time, behind only the great AJ Foyt.

Scott McLaughlin came home fifth, while championship leader Alex Palou was seventh.

The impressive result comes following intense periods of fuel-saving and tyre preservation, with Dixon stopping only three times over the 260 laps in comparison to most of his rival’s five.

From the outset, he was on the back foot, a nine-place grid penalty placing the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing entry 16th on the grid. McLaughlin had qualified on pole in this morning’s earlier run, after the session was delayed due to rain yesterday, but also received a grid penalty and started 10th.

Dixon would take the lead just prior to mid-race, running long as competitors boxed. A Lap 125 caution worked in his favour, gifting him a cheap stop when teammate Takuma Sato crashed into the Turn 2 wall.

The Kiwi again remained out during the next sequence, on Lap 166, instead opting to make his final stop on Lap 195 and drop to tenth, 10 seconds behind the leader, who needed to stop one more time, as did the majority of those ahead.

Once they did, Dixon controlled proceedings to claim an impressive victory and reduce Palou’s championship lead to 74 points ahead of the final two races.

The victory was best summed up by O’Ward following the race, who simply shrugged his shoulders and said, “it’s Scott Dixon.”