Josef Newgarden wins 2017 IndyCar Series title with Penske – IndyCar

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Josef Newgarden secured the 2017 IndyCar title in his first season with Penske with second to Simon Pagenaud in the season finale at Sonoma.

Newgarden led much of the race but his reigning champion team-mate Pagenaud made the most of an out-of-sequence four-stop pit strategy to move into the lead on lap 65 of the 85 lap race.

Newgarden’s championship triumph is Penske’s 15th IndyCar crown, and is also the first for an American driver since Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2012 title.

Penske’s four drivers entered the race all in the championship hunt along with Ganassi driver Scott Dixon.

While Newgarden’s second place was more than enough to secure the championship, Pagenaud’s win moved him from fourth to second in the standings.

Dixon slipped from second to third after finishing the race in fourth place.

He still prevented Penske from taking a clean sweep of the top four championship positions, with Helio Castroneves and Will Power rounding out the top five in the points.

The race was a largely processional affair, the first Sonoma IndyCar event run without a single caution since 1970. The only real change of lead came via Pagenaud’s unconventional pit strategy.

The championship five remained in the top five from start to finish, with Power taking the final podium spot and Castroneves fifth behind Dixon.

Away from the title battle, Graham Rahal made up three places to finish the race in sixth, one spot ahead of Marco Andretti – who was competing in his 200th IndyCar race.

Dixon’s best hope of assistance from his Ganassi team-mates ended on the opening lap when Tony Kanaan, in what is set to be his final race with the team, suffered a puncture.

Takuma Sato was another victim of a blown tyre. After being the only non-championship contending driver to start in the top six, he dropped out of contention early on with a puncture on lap seven, before retiring with engine trouble 18 laps from the end.

Sato’s Andretti team-mate and fellow Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, who began the race as a massive outsider in the championship fight, also suffered from engine issues. His race ended on lap 25.

Zachary Claman DeMelo was the highest placed rookie in his very first IndyCar race. He finished in 17th, ahead of fellow rookies Jack Harvey and Ed Jones.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 85 1h55m52.6840s
2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 85 1.0986s
3 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 85 1.6139s
4 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 85 12.0870s
5 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 85 22.5022s
6 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 85 23.5289s
7 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 85 23.9788s
8 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 85 24.5140s
9 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 85 49.9911s
10 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 85 55.6650s
11 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 85 1m21.0203s
12 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 85 1m24.5038s
13 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 84 1 Lap
14 J.R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 84 1 Lap
15 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 84 1 Lap
16 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 84 1 Lap
17 Zachary Claman Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 84 1 Lap
18 Jack Harvey Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 84 1 Lap
19 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 69 Suspension
20 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 62 Engine
21 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 60 25 Laps
22 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 52 Electrical

Drivers’ standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Josef Newgarden 642
2 Simon Pagenaud 629
3 Scott Dixon 621
4 Helio Castroneves 598
5 Will Power 562
6 Graham Rahal 522
7 Alexander Rossi 494
8 Takuma Sato 441
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay 421
10 Tony Kanaan 403
11 Max Chilton 396
12 Marco Andretti 388
13 James Hinchcliffe 376
14 Ed Jones 354
15 J.R. Hildebrand 347
16 Carlos Munoz 328
17 Charlie Kimball 327
18 Conor Daly 305
19 Mikhail Aleshin 237
20 Spencer Pigot 218
21 Sebastien Bourdais 214
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 Jack Harvey 57
29 Fernando Alonso 47
30 Pippa Mann 32
31 Zachary Claman 26
32 Jay Howard 24
33 Zach Veach 23
34 Sage Karam 23
35 James Davison 21
36 Tristan Vautier 15
37 Buddy Lazier 14



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