Sonoma Indycar Race Recap

                                          

Scott Dixon wins the GoPro GP of Sonoma, giving Chip Ganassi his 100th Indycar win.


For the first time the Indycar season finale was held at Sonoma Raceway.  Will Power, who has made Sonoma his playground, dominated in the first practice and throughout qualifying.  Power started on pole and led 26 laps in the early stages of the race. On lap 38, Power and Montoya tangled and both fell to the back of the pack.  Josef Newgarden ran a very strong second most of the day behind either Dixon, who took the lead on lap 51, or Power. During a pit stop on lap 61 Josef stalled the car and had a small fire, putting him a lap down and ending his hopes for a strong finish to the year.  Though Power, Montoya, Newgarden, Rahal and Castroneves all had either bad cars or problems, Scott Dixon lived up to his nickname, The Iceman' and took home his third win in the season and won the Championship on a tiebreaker for most season wins.

 

The top 10 Finishers

1. Scott Dixon was lurking in the top ten the whole race and eventually took the lead on lap 51. He then led 34 of the remaining laps and got the bonus points for leading the most laps. 

2. Ryan Hunter-Reay had an awful first half of the season until a breakout win in Iowa.  He finished the season with 2 wins and a 2nd place in the last four races.

3.  Charlie Kimball He tied his best finish of the year (Indy 500).    A strong way to finish his season leaving him twelfth in the season Championship.

 

4. Tony Kanaan earns his 6th top 5 this year.  He was one of the first people to the #9 car to congratulate Scott Dixon on the Indycar title.  

5. Ryan Briscoe did a great job salvaging a top five and holding off Montoya while on old tires.  Hopefully, Ryan Briscoe can get a ride next year, because he did a great job filling in for James Hinchcliffe. He earned 4 top tens in 8 starts this year.

6. Juan Montoya stayed in the top ten until his altercation with Power put the back to the 23rd and 24th positions.  He made a great comeback to 6th but couldn't get past Ryan Briscoe, which would have given him the Championship. As expected he was a bit upset after the race having lost the Indycar title after leading all year.

I think it's photoshop!!!! LOL https://t.co/ojyoeTEqJo

— Juan Pablo Montoya (@jpmontoya) August 31, 2015

7. Will Power was also eligible for the Championship and got upset at race control for closing the pits under yellow. Will Power ended up finishing 3rd in the Championship.
 

8. Takuma Sato closes off the season with a solid finish, and has a ride at A.J Foyt for next year.
 
9. Rodolfo Gonzalez had a surprising finish for Dale Coyne racing, his best finish of the season. 

10. Mikhael Aleshin was in his first race in an Indycar since his scary crash at Fontana last year, Mikael Aleshin finishes strong and might have a full time ride in Indycar next year.

 

Top Ten included...

*   5 Chevys and 5 Hondas.  Chevy still came out on top with the win and the Manufacturer Championship for the fourth year in a row.

*  Drivers represented 8 different countries.   Two Americans finished on the podium for the second week in a row.

*  There were 6 different teams

 

OTHER

* 7 different drivers all led laps.  There were 10 lead changes

* 7 different cars helped bring out 4 cautions for 14 laps, including

Power, Montoya and Munoz.

 

* Will Power set the fastest leader lap on lap 1 at a speed of 107.930

* Scott Dixon paced the way to an average speed of 94.117 mph

Shout Out To....

Oriol Servia, for getting into the #25 car and racing it in Justin Wilsons honor.  He finished in twelfth position.
 
Mikael Aleshin, finishing 10th in his first Indycar race since his crash at Fontana.  Hopefully, he can get a full time ride in 2016.