Grand Prix of Houston - Race Report
Results (with starting pos.) for Race #1 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston
1. (19) No. 18 Huertas, Honda
2. (11) No. 2 Montoya, Chevrolet
3. (23) No. 34 Munoz, Honda
12. (15) No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet (Briscoe)
13. (22) No. 10 Target Chevrolet (Kanaan)
18. (13) No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet (Kimball)
19. (3) No. 9 Target Chevrolet (Dixon)
Results (with starting pos.) for Race #2 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston
1. (3) No. 77 Pagenaud, Honda
2. (2) No. 7 Aleshin, Honda
3. (23) No. 98 Hawksworth, Honda
4. (19) No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet (Kimball)
8. (15) No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet (Briscoe)
10. (8) No. 10 Target Chevrolet (Kanaan)
18. (11) No. 9 Target Chevrolet (Dixon)
Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe and Charlie Kimball finished 13th, 19th, 12th and 18th, respectively, at Reliant Park in the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Race 1 and 10th, 18th, eighth and fourth, respectively, in Race 2 for the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Race 1
Dixon began the race in third place but had fallen to sixth by the second lap of the 80-lap race. By lap 15 he had dropped two more spots into eighth. After a lap 26 pit stop where the No. 9 switched to alternate tires, Dixon found himself in the ninth position. He restarted in sixth place after a lap 37 caution. He continued in sixth until he went off the racing line and slid over a puddle of water while the car was downshifting, causing him to hit the wall on lap 47 and ending his day in 19th place.
Race 2
Dixon started the race in 11th place. By lap four of 90, he had gained two positions to move up to ninth. Dixon continued in ninth place until a spec master cylinder issue on lap 25 caused the No. 9 car to retire to the pits for 12 laps. He exited the pits in 22nd place but was able to move up four positions through the final laps of the race to finish in 18th.
With the results, Dixon is ninth in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings with 237 points.
Notes of Interest:
-The No. 9 made contact with the wall on lap 49 and retired from the first race.
-The No. 9 team had a problem with the spec master cylinder which caused brake problems early in the second race.
CGR Race 1 Quoteboard:
Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Chevrolet: "We were just biding our time and dealing with the changing conditions really. I just locked up on a downshift unfortunately and lost it. Tough day for the Target team and we'll try to do better in the next event."
CGR Race 2 Quoteboard:
Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Chevrolet: "Well that was obviously not the day we wanted to have with the Target car. Race 1 in Houston for us was unkind and today Race 2 was the same way with spec master cylinder issues. It just wasn't our weekend and we hope we'll have the same turn around to our season in Pocono next weekend like we did last season."
Up next for Chip Ganassi Racing is the Pocono INDYCAR 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Penn. on Sunday, July 6 (12:00 pm ET, NBC Sports Network).
