Dixon wins Honda Indy Toronto; The Wickens of Canada Third – Article

TORONTO – Scott Dixon won Sunday's Honda Indy Honda, his third title, while Canadian Robert Wickens finished third in his first run on Canadian soil in more than a decade.

Dixon from New Zealand completed the 85-lap tour of the streets around Exhibition Place, with Simon Pagenaud of second place and Wickens of Guelph, Ont., Third.

This is the third year in a row that Canadians have reached the podium. James Hinchcliffe, of Oakville, Ont., Was fourth, after two consecutive third place finishes, while Zachary Claman De Melo of Montreal was 14th.

Josef Newgarden looked set to defend his title and win the third victory in Toronto, leading most of the first 32 laps on a hot, wet day. The starting temperature was 27 ° C, but it looked more like 35 ° C.

But on lap 1 of lap 33, the 27-year-old American hit the wall, allowing Dixon to take the lead and he crossed

Dixon took advantage with 33 points over Newgarden in the overall standings.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal, Will Power, Max Chilton, Ed Jones, Alexander Rossi Sebastien Bourdais was involved in a collision.

Rossi said Saturday that a repeat of the course would likely create more action in the first corner.

"I think it's going to allow Tour 1 to be a pbading zone now, before it's bumpy inside, the percentage of chances is pretty low, so now we can improve everything we do for the race. "

The incident allowed Wickens and Hinchcliffe to reach the third and fourth. returned to second place on the 35th lap to follow Dixon, which led up to what he found on lap 55

This was the first race in Canada for Wickens, a IndyCar's rookie since she competed in Toronto as part of Champ Car Atlantic 2007. He spent 12 seasons in Europe, including six with the German DTM series

Paul Tracy remains the only Canadian to win in Toronto, taking the checkered flag in 1993 and 2003.

Newgarden took his sixth pole of his career, and fourth Dixon set an earlier course record in qualifying on Saturday, clocking a time of 58.5546 in segment 2. He started the race in second place and Simon Pagenaud finished third.

Dixon also achieved the fastest time lap of 59.1394 seconds in the final practice earlier today. He was followed by Newgarden (59.3684) and American Ryan Hunter-Reay (59.3684).

Hinchcliffe entered the race with a win back on Newgarden at Iowa Corn 300 last weekend. filled the stands of the race, which regularly drew more than 70,000 people and around 170,000 over the weekend during the 1990s and early 2000s.

A representative of Green Savoree said Sunday that he was expecting a participation rate of three days. 125,000 and 145,000.

There was also further discussion about the potential of another race north of the border at the lone stop of IndyCar in Canada. The co-owner of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Ric Peterson, said Saturday that he was still pushing for a race in Calgary. He said that 2019 is no longer on the table but the following year is still a possibility.