Grand Prix of Sonoma 2018-09-16

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Event
Grand Prix of Sonoma

Date
Sun 16th September 2018 (UTC)

Timestamp

Time

00:00:00 UTC

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League
IndyCar Series

Season
2018

Round
17

Status

Location
Sonoma Raceway

Video Highlights

Description

The GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma is an IndyCar Series race held at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The USAC Championship Car circuit raced at the circuit in 1970. In 2005, American open wheel racing returned to the circuit with an IndyCar Series event. The 2006 event saw rookie Marco Andretti win his first career race. It marked the record youngest winner (19 years, 5 months, 14 days) of a major open-wheel racing event at the time.
The IndyCar Series race utilizes a modified 2.2-mile (3.5 km) version of the road course, the same used by AMA Superbike. The circuit includes the carousel, making it longer than the NASCAR layout, but shorter than the full 2.52-mile (4.06 km) course. This course uses turn 7a of the NASCAR course, but skips the hairpin prior to the front straight. The dragstrip is used instead of the keyhole, adding a high speed section immediately following the exit of the carousel.
For 2012, the course was altered. The back hairpin used the inner loop instead of the outer loop used by NASCAR. Turn nine was widened by ten feet while turn eleven at the hairpin was extended by 200 feet. Since 2015, the race had served as the IndyCar season finale.

Hunter-Reay led 80 of 85 laps at Sonoma Raceway in a commanding performance to win the 2018 season finale from the pole position. Dixon started second and finished there, which was more than enough to secure the season crown.
Dixon entered the race with a 29-point lead, knowing he essentially only had to finish ahead of second-place Alexander Rossi in the double-points race. When Rossi damaged the front wing on his car and punctured a tire in first-lap contact with teammate Marco Andretti, it tipped the scales clearly in Dixon’s favor. From there, the driver of the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was content to trail Hunter-Reay and bring home the crown that earned Dixon another Astor Cup
With the achievement, Dixon moved ahead of Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and Dario Franchitti – each of whom has four titles. All of Dixon’s championships have come in his 17 seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, which laid claim to its 12th Indy car driver’s title.

Reports

Result List

Result Description
Pos/Driver/Team/laps/Points/

1/Ryan Hunter-Reay/ Andretti Autosport/ 85/ 104
2/Scott Dixon/ Chip Ganassi Racing/ 85/ 80
3/Will Power, Team Penske, 85/ 71
4/Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, 85/ 64
5/Marco Andretti, Andretti Herta, 85/ 60
6/Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing, 85/ 56
7/Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport, 85, 52
8/Josef Newgarden, Team Penske, 85/ 49
9/Patricio O'Ward, Chevrolet, 85/ 44
10/Ed Jones, Chip Ganassi Racing, 85/ 40
11/Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing, 85/ 38
12/Tony Kanaan, AJ Foyt Enterprises, 85/ 36
13/Jordan King, Ed Carpenter Racing, 85/ 34
14/Zach Veach, Andretti Autosport, 85/ 32
15/James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, 85/ 30
16/Pietro Fittipaldi, Dale Coyne Racing, 85/ 28
17/Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing, 85/ 26
18/Carlos Munoz, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, 85/ 24
19/Matheus Leist, AJ Foyt Enterprises, 85/ 22
20/Colton Herta, Chevrolet, 85/ 20
21/Max Chilton, Carlin, 84/ 18
22/Charlie Kimball, Carlin, 76/ 16
23/Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 66/ 14
24/Spencer Pigot,Ed Carpenter Racing, 38/ 12
25/Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, 15/ 10

Points standings after this race:

1/ Scott Dixon/ 678
2/ Alexander Rossi/ 621
3/ Will Power/ 582
4/ Ryan Hunter-Reay/ 566
5/ Josef Newgarden/ 560

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