Manurewa’s Scott Dixon has won a sixth Indycar championship after finishing third in this morning’s 2020 finale on the streets of St Petersburg.
The Chip Ganassi driver started 11th and needed to finish inside the top nine to ensure he beat American Josef Newgarden to the title.
Both drivers made their way forward by keeping out of trouble and picking off rivals one by one through the opening half of the race.
Dixon was never more than three spots behind Newgarden and looked to have done enough to secure the title by the time he completed his final stop.
But a series of safety car interventions bunched up the field and made the 40-year-old New Zealander work. Desperate rivals and a dangerous pile up of marbles off the racing line made re-starts challenging.
But Dixon used his racing smarts to avoid drama and ended up chasing Newgarden to the chequered flag.
Newgarden won the race but Dixon won the championship to move within one title of the record held by the great AJ Foyt.
He dominated the opening rounds of the COVID-disrupted season and had one hand on the title after the first four races of the season before a late season charge by Newgarden.
“It definitely started that way but it is all the team,” Dixon said. “I can’t thank the team enough.
“What they have been able to pull off this year – they nailed it.
“A big thanks to everyone – my family is here somewhere.
“It definitely got pretty close there – a credit to Josef and Team Penske – they drove the late part of the season faultlessly.
“Six [championships] is good – seven sounds better and that is the goal.”
Fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin showed some impressive speed early in the race and made up some positions before making a small error and getting tangled up in an incident that ended his race.
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