Scott Dixon was doing Scott Dixon things on Sunday, when he nursed his Chip Ganassi entered Dallara-Honda to a victory at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He took the lead with a bit of help from his team mate Álex Palou, who made an uncharacteristic mistake. However, it was a typical Dixonesque fuel save run that put him in contention in the first place.
Two-stopper from the get-go
When Josef Newgarden spun in the opening turn, causing the first caution of the day, Dixon knew a two-stop strategy was on the table.
“Yeah, as soon as I saw the caution at the start, which we had been talking about, I was like, man, the two-stop is on. We worked pretty hard this morning in the warmup on fuel mileage and making sure we got the car balance kind of where we needed it.”
Three 30 lap stints were required for the strategy to work, with one of those on the soft tyres.
“First stint was pretty easy,” Dixon explained. “Second stint we actually got into a bit of trouble on the soft tires with the left front. I don’t know if it was that tire, but 10 laps in I could see it starting to come apart, and I knew that we were kind of locked in on the two-stopper so that was going to be pretty difficult, so we pushed and kind of used the average on the black tires and used them a little bit more once we got to the final stop.
“The final stop actually they didn’t take any of the front wing out, so it was so loose for that last stint.
“I was just really looking at the corner and the car would turn itself, which, one, is really physical, but two, it’s really hard to push extremely hard because you start to lock rears, especially into 4 and into 2 and also into 9 where ultimately that got Alex.”
Rare Palou mistake
En route to victory Dixon was taken by surprise by the rare mistake his team mate made in Mid-Ohio. Failing to come out ahead he didn’t expect to be able to fight for victory.
“It would have been tough [to catch Palou]. He had better tires, more fuel. It was going to be a tough situation.
“That’s where I was kind of shocked that he didn’t pull away like I thought he would have. I thought he would have been probably a second a lap quicker just because of the scenario that we were in with the heavy save, and I don’t know, what did he pit, maybe 10 laps to go or eight laps to go.
“We had to run 30 laps on a set of tires.”
And then Palou made his uncharateristic mistake into turn 9. It took Dixon a while to realise it was his team mate, he explained.
“Well, on the approach to 9, I saw the dust and I was like, oh, maybe that’s a lap car or something because there’s been some times in these sessions where the dust has actually been lingering in the air.
“You come through 1, there’s a load of dust and then you don’t even see the car that’s in front.
“I didn’t know if it was him, and then obviously I see it’s a black car. He’s had multiple colors this year, so it’s always hard to figure out, and I saw that he was kind of struggling to get going.
“Hate to say it, but pleasantly surprised when I saw that he was rejoining the track.”
Closing in on Foyt
With the victory in Mid-Ohio extending Dixon’s streak to 21 seasons with a victory in succession, totaling 59 victories over the span of his career. This brings him just 8 shy of A.J. Foyt’s all-time records. However, it is not something that the Kiwi is busy with.
“I don’t look at it too much, honestly,” Dixon said. “Each race I go to, I’m there to win. This year has been super frustrating for us, for all of us on the 9 car. Anytime we could have something roll our way, it just hasn’t.
“We’ve had a load of mechanicals. It’s been extremely frustrating. Indy, I think, was one of the best 500 cars I’ve had and it was over before it even started.
“This is big for team morale and for everybody involved. We know we can win, just hopefully we can get on a roll here.”
Mid-Ohio Dixon’s favourite hunting ground.
With victory number seven at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, it is clear that this track is one of Dixon’s favourite places.
“Well, I don’t know,” Dixon argued. “I’d say Watkins Glen is maybe my best track for the time we’ve been there.
“But no, Mid-Ohio is a lot of fun. It’s definitely a very difficult circuit. Kudos, I think, to INDYCAR to extend — I think a lot of the best INDYCAR races is when you can have a flat-out three-stopper and a two-stopper that converge at the end, and that always creates a lot of suspense and a lot of craziness.”
And not only for the six-time champion it is a great track, Chip Ganassi Racing also as a great track record.
“It’s not probably the easiest place to pass, and unfortunately what they did safety-wise for Turn 4 has probably made that a little bit tougher, but it’s been — I can’t say just for myself. I don’t know how many times the team has won here. It’s like 13 or 14 times. I think if you go back to Zanardi, Vasser, Dario, Charlie Kimball, it’s a ton.
“It’s a combo that has worked well for a lot of us drivers that are lucky enough to be at Ganassi.”
