TORONTO, Canada / Province of Ontario (AFP) – New Zealand’s Scott Dixon dominated to post a weekend sweep of a pair of races on Toronto’s IndyCar street circuit.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a dominant day,” said Dixon. “I’m just happy for the team.”
Dixon, who was born in Brisbane, Australia but grew up in Auckland, earned a $100,000 bonus for victories in both races at this 1.75- mile, 11-turn street circuit.
Dixon, who won last weekend’s race in Pocono, captured his third victory in a row and 32nd career title.
Prior to Pocono, Dixon was fifth in the points race, trailing leader Helio Castroneves by 92 points. He is now just 29 points back of the Brazilian leader.
“It’s quite a turnaround in a couple of weeks, and I hope we can keep it going,” Dixon noted.
Dixon won the pole for race two on Saturday morning and then the Chip Ganassi Racing driver took the checkered flag for first race later that day.
He led 81 of 85 laps in Sunday’s second race. Dixon relinquished the lead only during a round of pit stops in the early going. Team Penske teammates Castroneves and Will Power led a pair of laps each.
A caution for an incident involving Ed Carpenter set the stage for a two-lap sprint to the finish.
After the final restart, Dixon pulled ahead of Castroneves. Then an smash involving Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato — following the restart — forced the race to end under caution.
The race was caution-free until lap 65 when James Jakes hit a tire barrier.
Castroneves placed second, while Sebastien Bourdais, of France, posted his second straight podium finish with a third-place finish. Bourdais was runner-up to Dixon in Saturday’s first race.
“When you have a good car, it’s awesome,” Bourdais said. “I scored as many points (in Toronto this weekend) than I’ve scored all season.”
Dario Franchitti grabbed fourth place, while E.J. Viso rounded out the top five.
Charlie Kimball was sixth, followed by Mike Conway in seventh then Justin Wilson, Marco Andretti and Alex Tagliani.
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