Dixon wins at Edmonton

Honda Edmonton Indy won by Dixon

New Zealander Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) won the Honda Edmonton Indy on Sunday 25 July, his second win of the season, following some controversy at the Canadian circuit. The 2008 reigning champion was handed the win when Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) was penalised for blocking his team-mate.

Sunday’s race started with Power (Team Penske) leading Castroneves in a Penske 1-2 as team-mate Ryan Briscoe soon made it a 1-2-3, passing the Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars of Dixon and reigning champion Dario Franchitti. With only 18 laps of the race remaining Castoneves had made his way to the front of the pack leading Power. A yellow flag with five laps remaining bunched up the field, and as the green flag returned, Power put in a challenge to overtake Castroneves.

Castroneves receives black flag infraction

Castroneves moved to block Power, with Dixon, pushing hard in third, found himself with a wide open gap on the inside of the track. Dixon took advantage and passed Power for second. Castroneves was handed a black flag infraction for violating IndyCar rules, receiving a drive-through penalty moving him ten positions down the field.

Dixon took the win, with Power finishing second 2.67 seconds behind him; Power retains the current championship points lead. Dixon’s team-mate Franchitti finished third. It was the second win of the year for Dixon with the Target Chip Ganassi team. Dixon won in Edmonton in 2008 en route to winning the IndyCar championship.

Fantastic performance from Firestone tires
"The Firestone Firehawk tires were definitely good today. They were very consistent across all of the cars. The red alternate tires did exactly what they should have done. They were very fast to start with, and they got pretty slippery towards the end of a stint. But they still held up very well. All in all, the tires did a fantastic job today."
Scott Dixon, #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

Firestone tires added to excitment in Edmonton
"While today's finish will no doubt be debated for some time, there can be no doubt that the Firestone Firehawk primary and alternate tires added quite a bit of excitement to the end of the race. Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon were on alternate tires and seemed to be able to find grip just about anywhere on the track. As Scott mentioned in his quote, the tires did exactly what they were designed to do today, and you can be sure that is the result of Firestone Racing's relentless quest to make our tires just a little bit better at each and every race."
Dale Harrigle, Senior Project Manager, Firestone Racing Tire Development