Dixon seeks points while Newgarden continues to defend

| Photographer Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher

Scott Dixon heads into this week’s third round of the Verizon IndyCar Series seeking more points as he builds towards winning another series title. However, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske continues the defence of his 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series championship and leads the championship entering this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California. Newgarden, who last week won at ISM Raceway aims to be Team Penske’s first repeat champion since Gil de Ferran collected back-to-back CART championships in 2000 and 2001.

“It took me forever to get to victory lane there but we managed to accomplish that a few years ago, and I hope we can return to that form again this year in the PNC Bank car,” commented Dixon.

“Long Beach has such an amazing history. It’s a truly iconic American event that started gaining a lot of popularity with Formula 1 back in the day. With the layout of the track, it’s one of the best street circuits anywhere around, and more importantly, you actually get to race there. ”

Sebastien Bourdais claimed the season-opening race of the Verizon IndyCar Series for the second year in a row as he won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 11. Bourdais seeks a fourth win at Long Beach as he pursues a fifth Indy car championship.

Alexander Rossi is the only driver to finish on the podium in each of the first two races. The Andretti Autosport driver – one of three native Californians in the field – finished third at St. Petersburg and Long Beach to start the season and trails Josef Newgarden by five points entering the season.

This weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will mark the 35th Indy car event on the historic street circuit. Mario Andretti won the first Indy car race there in 1984 while it was James Hinchcliffe who was the 2017 race winner.

Scott Dixon has made 226 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak in Indy car racing. Scott Dixon, the longest-tenured driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, is fourth on the all-time Indy car victory list with 41 wins.

The 85-lap race gets underway on the 11-turn temporary street circuit on Sunday, local time.

Benjamin Carrell is a freelance motorsport writer and currently edits talkmotorsport.co.nz. He writes for a number of Kiwi drivers and motorsport clubs. That's when he's not working in his horticultural day-job or training for the next road or mtb cycle race!

https://talkmotorsport.co.nz

Related Stories

Join in the conversation!


Comments