Scott Dixon seems to have put behind him all the problems he had since the start of the 2009 IndyCar season to win the first oval race at Kansas Speedway where he dominated most of the event.
Penske's Helio Castroneves, who was penalised in qualifications and forced to start at the back of the pack, fought his way back up front to finish second, in front of Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan.
After just eight laps, Dixon (Ganassi) had already passed polesitter Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) for the lead. The whole field pitted only five laps later and that's when Robert Doornbos moved from third to first in the pits, only to clip one of teammate Rahal's tires and incur a penalty that put him to the back of the field.
Dixon remained untouchable, extending a comfortable three-second lead over his pursuers but following another yellow, the reigning champion emerged in third behind Briscoe and Kanaan following the second pit stop.
Franchitti was not far behind but he triggered the next yellow by slewing into the wall when he tried to avoid the suddenly slowing Rahal as both dived for the pits.
Dixon got out first this time with Castroneves up to second ahead of Kanaan and Briscoe. Dixon began to edge away, eventually beating Castroneves by 0.7 seconds - in the process turning his season around after accidents at both the preceding street events.
Round-3 Kansas Speedway results
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1h43m21.0035s
2. Helio Castroneves Penske + 0.7104s
3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 1.5022s
4. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 1.8872s
5. Danica Patrick Andretti Green + 2.6502s
6. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 3.8013s
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 7.8233s
8. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green + 8.5430s
9. Ed Carpenter Vision + 8.9871s
10. Dan Wheldon Panther + 9.7681s
11. Mario Moraes KV + 20.9048s
12. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 1 lap
13. Sarah Fisher Fisher + 1 lap
14. Justin Wilson Coyne + 1 lap
15. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 4 laps
16. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold + 5 laps
Retirements:
Stanton Barrett 3G 181 laps
Dario Franchitti Ganassi 151 laps
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 109 laps
Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 95 laps
EJ Viso HVM 37 laps
Vitor Meira Foyt 14 laps
Championship standings (After 3 races)
1- Tony Kanaan 100 points
2- Ryan Briscoe 99 points
3- Dario Franchitti 96 points
4- Scott Dixon 81 points
5- Ryan Hunter-Reay 74 points
photo:Shawn Payne - IndyCar
Penske's Helio Castroneves, who was penalised in qualifications and forced to start at the back of the pack, fought his way back up front to finish second, in front of Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan.
After just eight laps, Dixon (Ganassi) had already passed polesitter Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) for the lead. The whole field pitted only five laps later and that's when Robert Doornbos moved from third to first in the pits, only to clip one of teammate Rahal's tires and incur a penalty that put him to the back of the field.
Dixon remained untouchable, extending a comfortable three-second lead over his pursuers but following another yellow, the reigning champion emerged in third behind Briscoe and Kanaan following the second pit stop.
Franchitti was not far behind but he triggered the next yellow by slewing into the wall when he tried to avoid the suddenly slowing Rahal as both dived for the pits.
Dixon got out first this time with Castroneves up to second ahead of Kanaan and Briscoe. Dixon began to edge away, eventually beating Castroneves by 0.7 seconds - in the process turning his season around after accidents at both the preceding street events.
Round-3 Kansas Speedway results
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1h43m21.0035s
2. Helio Castroneves Penske + 0.7104s
3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 1.5022s
4. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 1.8872s
5. Danica Patrick Andretti Green + 2.6502s
6. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 3.8013s
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 7.8233s
8. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green + 8.5430s
9. Ed Carpenter Vision + 8.9871s
10. Dan Wheldon Panther + 9.7681s
11. Mario Moraes KV + 20.9048s
12. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 1 lap
13. Sarah Fisher Fisher + 1 lap
14. Justin Wilson Coyne + 1 lap
15. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 4 laps
16. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold + 5 laps
Retirements:
Stanton Barrett 3G 181 laps
Dario Franchitti Ganassi 151 laps
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 109 laps
Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 95 laps
EJ Viso HVM 37 laps
Vitor Meira Foyt 14 laps
Championship standings (After 3 races)
1- Tony Kanaan 100 points
2- Ryan Briscoe 99 points
3- Dario Franchitti 96 points
4- Scott Dixon 81 points
5- Ryan Hunter-Reay 74 points
photo:Shawn Payne - IndyCar