Scott Dixon has survived a chaotic Grand Prix of Portland — including a lap-one crash and a penalty — to retain his lead of the Verizon IndyCar Series with a fifth-place finish. The result comes at a critical time, as just one race remains in the season.
Victory meanwhile went to popular Japanese driver Takuma Sato; becoming the eighth different race winner of the season. It's the Honda driver's third IndyCar win, and the first since he clinched last year's Indy 500.
Dixon was involved in a spectacular multi-car lap-one incident [view above] after numerous cars crashed together on the run to turn three. It was started by the spinning car of James Hinchcliffe, and peaked with the rolling car of Marco Andretti coming over the top of the carnage.
Dixon had nowhere to go, taking on nose damage. But, he was able to drive off and continue with the race — only to incur a penalty for speeding in pit lane.
Though they were two significant blows to his chance of a race win, it didn't stop Dixon from building a recovery and coming through the grid.
Dixon sat in fifth with the end in sight, only to get passed by Spencer Pigot in the dying laps. He then claimed the place back when an out-of-sync Max Chilton pitted out of first place. From there, it was a lonely drive to the line.
The race win itself came down to the last two laps, as Sato fought off former champion Ryan Hunter-Reay. The latter had been preserving fuel, but was given permission by his team to gun for victory in the last moments.
But, the DHL driver couldn't make an impact on Sato — the latter winning by just over half a second. Sebastien Bourdais, Pigot, and Dixon rounded out the top five while Dixon's nearest rival — Alexander Rossi — finished seventh.
The series finale takes place in two weeks at Sonoma, where Dixon will have a 29-point lead to defend from Rossi. Australian Will Power is another 87 points back, tied up with defending champion Josef Newgarden.