IndyCar: Dixon holds off Herta to win in Toronto

Scott Dixon held off Colton Herta by 0.81-seconds to win his 52nd career IndyCar race at the Honda IndyCar GP of Toronto.

The win ties Dixon with Mario Andretti for 2nd place on the all-time win list.  This is the 20th season that the Kiwi has won an INDYCAR Series race.

When the green flew with 18 laps to go, the 6-time champion took the #9 PNC Bank car to the front and slowly stretch his lead over Herta’s Andretti Honda who was forced to conserve fuel and defend from a faster Felix Rosenqvist.

Felix Rosenqvist came home third in the #7 Arrow McLaren Chevy, ahead of the RLL Honda of Graham Rahal.

Ganassi teammates Marcus Ericsson and Alex Palou battled for 5th place right to the end with Ericsson taking the position. Palou came from 22nd at the start to finish 6th – the drive of the day.

Pit stategy was very different this race, with cars pitting as early as lap 3 and almost every lap after that.  Only six of the 25 drivers started on the primary tires and those that stared on the alternate tires pitted before the lap 30 window.

With the curved and tight pit lane, due to having 25 cars at this event, the only time all the cars came in to pit lane together was on lap 47 when the yellow flag came out after Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi made contact with the barrier in turn three after being squeezed over by Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist.

Scott Dixon 

Dixon replying to the fact that he was now tied with Mario for 52 wins.

“Thank you. It was a very special day in so many ways. Obviously some of those numbers, it took a little while to get to. It’s definitely been a bit of a dry spell for us. Sometimes that puts on a lot of pressure, not just me, but everybody on the team.”

“Today was just one of those days where I think the car was super fast all weekend. I think all the cars were across our group. You could see with the 8 and the 10 had great recoveries, even though they had some issues in qualifying. That’s real teamwork.”

“For me to be a part of this team is what it’s all about. I think it’s my 21st season with Chip.  All but one of those wins has been with him. Very thankful for what he’s done,
what his team has done, what everybody puts into this team.”

Mario Andretti was not here this weekend.  So he tweeted the following to Dixon.

” Utmost respect for my friend Scott Dixon and truly happy to congratulate him on 52 wins. Also congratulate his team because nobody does it alone. I hope this is just a step on your continuing journey. Well done.”    Mario Andretti Tweet

Dixon replied to the racing legend.  “I love Mario for so many reasons, what he’s done in the sport, achieved, what he gives back to the sport. I feel extremely lucky to have the likes of himself and A.J. here most weekends. Even to sit and chat with these guys, the generations that they raced in or the time they raced is a lot different from now.”

“It means a lot to me, to even be mentioned in the sale conversation as these greats. I never thought it was possible. For me, it’s a huge credit to obviously the team that I work with now, but also the team that I started with, whether it was mum and dad to my brothers and sisters, all of my family, to the Scott Dixon Motorsport Group, which
were the founders of getting a group together to put forward money and enable to get me to where I am today. ”

Colton Herta

This is young American’s second podium of the season.

“My car was really good for all the race. Andretti brought a really good package here, and it showed. Rossi was running good until I don’t know what happened. I was right up there, too.”

“All the cars in top 12 in qualifying, got a pole, second-place finish. I’m happy with that. It’s good to rebound with a result like this after Mid-Ohio.”

“At the end of the race, , I couldn’t really see much because my head sock broke.  All of my hair went in front of my face.  I am not trying to make excuses.”

“I could see Felix when I went through turn three. I could kind of judge the gap. ”

“I couldn’t see. I was having to look out the sides of my visors instead of in front. I guess I need to put on a new hair sock for every race.”

“Felix was really fast, and I’m glad we were able to keep him behind us,” Herta said. “He looked like a few more laps, and he was going to get us. We struggled a little bit with tire wear at the end, but other than that, our car was amazing.”

Race Results