After a few blips in consistency, Scott Dixon has appeared back on the NTT IndyCar Series podium with a second place at this morning's Honda Toronto Indy event.
After qualifying in second, Dixon hovered in the top three for most of the race. In the end, he was pipped to the top spot by Simon Pagenaud, while Alexander Rossi claimed the third and final slot on the podium. Series leader Josef Newgarden came fourth.
From lap one, it proved to be an action-packed race. A stacked field not shy of traveling two and three wide came to a head when Australian Will Power made a late dive inside Takuma Sato and Marco Andretti — triggering a multi-car crash with numerous others impeded by the stranded cars.
😬😬😬 And, we're off in Toronto...#indyTO // @hondaindy pic.twitter.com/8nVNQlnwtr
— NTT IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) July 14, 2019
Power wound up having a fraught Toronto showing, with a crash on the last lap costing him a place in the top 10.
It was a race that was arguably a two-horse race all the way through, as Pagenaud and Dixon duked it out. Ultimately the result came down to Dixon's late charge on the Frenchman, and with the chequered flag in sight he had overcome a margin caused by varying strategies to be close enough to make a move for the lead.
But, any shot of a final courageous dive in the final corners of the last lap was denied by Power's stricken car (which was buried in the tyre wall at turn eight, in the last sector of the lap). A caution flew for the stopped car, formalising the results through the field before the chequered flag had even flown.
It's Dixon's sixth podium drive of the 2019 season. The points gap to series leader Newgarden has closed, but with the other two drivers ahead of Dixon also finishing in the top three the title fight remains quite static.
Behind the top four, Dixon's teammate Felix Rosenqvist finished fifth, with James Hinchcliffe, Colton Herta, Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal, and Andretti completing the top 10.
The series will now travel to Iowa Speedway for round 12 of the season on July 20.