senor honda

Rossi storms to Watkins Glen win

Sunday, 03 September 2017


By Marshall Pruett / Image by Scott LePage/LAT



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In a season where bad luck has targeted Alexander Rossi's Andretti Autosport Honda at every possible opportunity, the Californian finally outran misfortune to turn his pole position into a dominant first road course win at Watkins Glen.
Four-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon chased the 2016 Indy 500 winner every step of the way in the sprint to the checkered flag, and despite trading fastest laps in the waning moments, Rossi was able to keep the Chip Ganassi Racing driver 0.9514s behind and teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay 7.1592s arrears to give Honda a decisive 1-2-3.
Team Penske's Helio Castroneves was the top Chevy in fourth, Graham Rahal took fifth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, and Penske's Will Power completed the top six.



"It's amazing," said the jubilant 25-year-old who led 32 of the 60-lap contest. "The car was amazing. It was so fast from the off Friday morning. When we got into the race we knew we had a car to win. We had an issue with the fuel hose, but it doesn't matter, we were able to pull it off. I've been saying how good our cars our, how good this team is working [but] we haven't been able to prove it until today. We had a one-on-one battle with Scott Dixon at the end there for 12 laps and came out on top, which is pretty cool."
Dixon started and finished second, but had to reclaim numerous positions lost in the pits to get back to Rossi.
"It was definitely an exciting day," said the Kiwi who emerged from Watkins Glen as the top performer among the title contenders. "I think we passed a lot of cars today. It was nice to have a run with Rossi at the end but we couldn't get by him."
With their performances, Rossi became the 10th different winner from 16 races this season and Dixon earned his seventh podium of the year. Hunter-Reay didn't have an answer for the other members of the top three, but was impressed nonetheless in how well Andretti Autosport fared after struggling last year at this event.
"Last year we all qualified 16th or worse," he said. "It was such a turnaround this year."
The big news of the day belonged to championship leader Josef Newgarden. The race was blown wide open on Lap 46 as he pitted from the lead but lost the position as teammate Will Power blasted out of his pit box to get ahead of Newgarden at the exit blend line. Carrying too much speed, Newgarden understeered into the pit exit wall, bounced off the barrier, came back onto the tarmac, and took a hit hard from behind by Sebastien Bourdais. CGR's Tony Kanaan completed an identical strike to the exit barrier seconds later, damaging his left-rear wheel.
A yellow flag flew with cars spilled out onto the track and Newgarden, with front and rear bodywork damage and possible left-front suspension issues, pitted at the end of the lap for repairs at the back of the car. The costly error sent Newgarden from first to 18th in a matter of seconds. He would return to the pits for more repairs, losing a lap as they were completed.
The 31-point advantage Newgarden held over Dixon shrunk to three at the checkered flag, Castroneves drew closer at 22 points behind and altogether, the new Penske recruit lamented making a mistake at precisely the wrong time in the season.
"Obviously it didn't go very well," Newgarden said with great understatement.
Other than Castroneves' performance, Team Penske had little to celebrate after the penultimate round as Power (sixth), Pagenaud (ninth) and Newgarden (18th) stumbled when they needed to surge.
A.J. Foyt Racing, after announcing its #Race4Houston initiative, gave its home state fans something to celebrate as Carlos Munoz (10th) and Conor Daly (11th) recorded their most impressive results on a road course as a tandem. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports' Jack Harvey also made the most out of a chaotic day to take 14th on his IndyCar road course debut.
Presented with a chance to bury Dixon's title chances before the series makes its final stand in Sonoma, Newgarden will have almost two weeks to sweat his meager three-point lead. Castroneves is back in the frame to earn his first championship in what's expected to be his last full-time IndyCar start. Pagenaud, 34 points back, will need to repeat his dominant Sonoma form that netted the title in 2016, and Power will need a ton of drama to befall his rivals in order to leap from fifth to first in the wine country.
With one race to go, it's anybody's guess as to who will be crowned champion on Sept. 17.