Watkins Glen IndyCar: Rossi takes first win since 2016 Indy 500 – IndyCar

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Alexander Rossi took his first IndyCar victory since his 2016 Indianapolis 500 triumph, as Josef Newgarden’s championship lead was slashed by a pitlane crash at Watkins Glen.

Newgarden smacked the pit exit wall at the final stops and was then hit by Sebastien Bourdais, causing rear suspension damage.

A long stop for repairs left Newgarden two laps down in 18th, with Scott Dixon’s second place reducing his lead to just three points heading into the double-points finale at Sonoma in a fortnight.

Polesitter Rossi dominated much of the race despite the disruption of a fuel pump problem and the whole field pitting for slicks at the end of lap one having started on wets on what turned out to be a nearly-dry track.

Rossi received just a fraction of the fuel required when he pitted under a caution caused by Andretti Autosport team-mate Takuma Sato slowing with a turbo problem on lap 15 of the 60-lap race.

Andretti brought Rossi in again from the lead nine laps later for a full fuel load, putting him out of sequence and down the field.

But he cycled back to the front within three laps when Sato’s delayed car spun and triggered another caution under which everyone else pitted.

Once back in first place, Rossi turned up the wick and led by as much as 12 seconds during the next stint.

Newgarden was back in eighth in the middle of the race, demoted by drivers out of sequence benefiting from yellow timing as Rossi had.

He moved into a temporary lead by staying out late for his final stop, only to crash in the pit exit.

Bourdais and Tony Kanaan were also caught out in the resulting shunt, which triggered the final yellow.

Rossi was able to keep Dixon at bay for the subsequent 11-lap run to the flag and cap a weekend that had begun with a new Andretti Autosport deal with his first IndyCar win on a road course.

Ryan Hunter-Reay made it two Andretti cars on the podium after a strong race that included some assertive moves in the opening laps.

Helio Castroneves kept his own title hopes alive with fourth, having out-duelled Rossi to lead for a spell in the first part of the race before a slow pitstop dropped him back.

Graham Rahal had a quiet race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan in fifth.

Sixth kept Will Power mathematically in the title hunt but he struggled with a semi-wet set-up all race and just fended off Charlie Kimball, who salvaged seventh despite two off-road excursions.

Kimball’s Ganassi team-mate Max Chilton resisted reigning champion Simon Pagenaud and AJ Foyt Racing duo Carlos Munoz and Conor Daly for eighth.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 60 1h42m03.9024s
2 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 60 0.9514s
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 60 7.1592s
4 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 60 8.8938s
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 60 11.8863s
6 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 60 15.3787s
7 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 60 16.1639s
8 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 60 28.0410s
9 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 60 28.2941s
10 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 60 29.4972s
11 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 60 30.2436s
12 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 60 32.3478s
13 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 60 33.1533s
14 Jack Harvey Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 60 35.6826s
15 J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 60 41.5905s
16 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 60 52.7948s
17 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 60 54.0444s
18 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 58 2 Laps
19 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 56 4 Laps
20 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 46 Contact
21 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 5 Mechanical

Drivers’ standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Josef Newgarden 560
2 Scott Dixon 557
3 Helio Castroneves 538
4 Simon Pagenaud 526
5 Will Power 492
6 Alexander Rossi 476
7 Graham Rahal 466
8 Takuma Sato 421
9 Tony Kanaan 375
10 Ryan Hunter-Reay 373
11 James Hinchcliffe 360
12 Max Chilton 360
13 Marco Andretti 336
14 Ed Jones 332
15 J.R. Hildebrand 315
16 Carlos Munoz 298
17 Charlie Kimball 289
18 Conor Daly 264
19 Mikhail Aleshin 237
20 Spencer Pigot 184
21 Sebastien Bourdais 170
22 Ed Carpenter 169
23 Gabby Chaves 98
24 Juan Pablo Montoya 93
25 Esteban Gutierrez 91
26 Sebastian Saavedra 80
27 Oriol Servia 61
28 Fernando Alonso 47
29 Jack Harvey 33
30 Pippa Mann 32
31 Jay Howard 24
32 Zach Veach 23
33 Sage Karam 23
34 James Davison 21
35 Tristan Vautier 15
36 Buddy Lazier 14



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