Scott Dixon recovers to eighth after issues deny a top-five finish
New Zealand's Scott Dixon has finished seventh in the first race of the 2016 IndyCar season at St Petersburg, after a race plagued by issues for himself and his Target Chip Ganassi team.
After starting the race from fifth, Dixon was as able to make his way up to as high as third before the race slipped away.
After making an early stop in the race, fears began to rise about whether the Kiwi would have to make a 'splash and dash' stop for fuel. The fears were made redundant soon after, as the driver was forced to pit to address overheating issues aboard his Chevrolet. The issues had been caused by a plastic tear-off clogging up the car's air flow.
The pit took Dixon out of fifth place on lap 71, pushing him down to 14th place. But a quick run to the flag, that included the quickest lap of the race, saw Dixon eventually finish in seventh.
Colombian and former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya won the race, ahead of Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves, and Mikhail Aleshin in fifth.