Los Angeles (AFP) – Kiwi veteran Scott Dixon held off rookie teammate Felix Rosenqvist in a thrilling duel Sunday to win the IndyCar race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Race leader Dixon was struggling on exhausted tires as Sweden’s Rosenqvist, running second, got the go-ahead from the Chip Ganassi team to take his chances.
Rosenqvist did his best, but a determined Dixon was having none of it, using all his experience to claim a sixth career win on the 2.258-mile (3.63km), 13-turn Mid-Ohio track.
“Oh man, that was crazy,” said Dixon, who won by 0.0934sec and admitted his blocking efforts might not have all been strictly by the book.
“I feel a little bit bad with Felix. I put some moves on him for sure,” added the 39-year-old.
Dixon, who breathed some life into his IndyCar title defense, said his tires were “shot” for the last 15 laps.
“We were just a sitting duck — there was nothing else I could do,” he said. “I felt like if I let him by I was going to let the whole lot by — so I’ll say ‘sorry’ to everyone now.”
Rosenqvist said he thought there was at least one “miscommunication” during his late tussle with Dixon, when they almost touched.
But, he added, Dixon “raced hard and fair for the last couple of corners — I almost got him in the end.”
American Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third and Australian Will Power, who started from pole, settled for fourth ahead of fifth-placed Alexander Rossi, the Mid-Ohio winner last year who announced on the eve of the race that he had inked a multi-year deal to stay with Andretti Autosport.
Series points leader Josef Newgarden finished 14th after making contact with Hunter-Reay with two laps remaining. Newgarden’s lead over Rossi in the series standings dwindled to 16 points. Dixon is 62 adrift with four races remaining.
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