Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Women In Motorsports Honda came from sixth on the grid to finish the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course in second place runner up to his teammate Alex Palou.
The result had moved Dixon up three places in the championship to second albeit 110 points behind Palou.
Speaking following the action however, the six-time series champion said:
Anything’s possible.“Like we’ve always seen, you’re never out of it until you’re out of it. So, we’ll keep trying as hard as possible.
“I know we tied (in points) with (Juan Pablo) Montoya in 2015, and we thought we were possibly out of it (entering the final race). That’s what’s funny about the INDYCAR SERIES and all of the competition, but you’ve got to give them credit, they’re doing a hell of a job.”
Dixon went on to say:
“It was definitely tricky, spent a little too much time behind the No. 45 at the start, we kind of both bounced into each other. Really what changed the race for us, and the possibility to win it, was getting caught behind Herta. Had we cleared him in the first pit stop exchange, I think we could have raced with the No. 10 for the lead. That dropped us back back 15 seconds, and his pace was pretty poor, but towards the end we got down to a five second gap. Overall, the pace was really good, huge credit to Honda, as its their home race. Also, a big day for PNC Bank, and obviously for the points as well, as we are now one-two in the championship.”
Speaking following the action Alex Palou said:
Third win in a row for the No. 10 car, super special to do it here at Mid-Ohio where we’ve been good in the past. We needed that win and it’s a special weekend for Honda. We had all the power and fuel mileage we needed to make our strategy work. We went long and just ran really fast lap times to get to Victory Lane. We did it and we’re going to keep it going with The American Legion.”
It was a disappointing day for Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Iced Spritz Chip Ganassi Racing Honda who was forced to retire from the race and was handed a 45 second avoidable contact penalty.
At the start, I thought I had more grip there, but bumped into Felix’s tire and went over his car. It’s very disappointing for the No. 8 car and crew, as well as Felix. It was never my intention, obviously, so I feel really bad for him. Congrats to the team on the 1-2 finish.”
Marcus Armstrong was happy with his race saying:
“It was a good race. We were very fast on the first stint at the end on reds, which was a surprise, we didn’t expect that tire to last that long. In the end, we made up a lot of track position there by just staying out and doing fast laps. We did that for the rest of the day, that same strategy, and it paid off. The team did a great job in pit lane. Blair, Eric, and the rest of the crew did a great job on pit wall. I just drove as fast as I could, it turned out well, but we can do better next time.”