Ryan Hunter-Reay led 80 out of 85 laps in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Sonoma as Scott Dixon took home his fifth Astor Cup (the trophy given to the winner of the Verizon Indycar Series title). Dixon became only the second driver to win 5 or more championships, joining AJ Foyt, who has won 7. “Man, this is so awesome!” said Dixon. “I can’t believe that it’s actually happened. I can’t thank everybody enough for this, it’s so cool!” (Courtesy of indycar.com) Alexander Rossi came into the race 29 points behind Dixon in the battle for the championship, but had his title hopes dashed after contact with teammate Marco Andretti on lap 1 that damaged his front wing. That contact pretty much sealed the deal for Dixon as long as he minimized mistakes. “The whole race I was thinking about things that were out of our control, cautions that were going to flip the field,” said Dixon. “None of that happened.”(Courtesy of indycar.com) For Hunter-Reay, his dominating performance gave him his second win of the season. Hunter-Reay quietly got away, as the focus was on Dixon and Rossi, and drove a perfect race. “Seems like the day is a lot longer when you’re out (in the lead) because you just want to end the race,” Hunter-Reay said. “‘Can it please end now? Can it please end now?’ All in all, it was a good day.”(Courtesy of indycar.com) Hunter-Reay started on the pole, alongside Dixon, at the start, and got away from the field early and never was anyone able to go up and pass him throughout the day, as the five laps he didn’t lead were during pit cycles. “Any time on a road course, especially on a road course, qualifying on pole is a big deal,” Hunter-Reay said. “It can be a game changer for you. It can be a race changer. You want to take advantage of that from there, control the pace of the race, control and dictate when the stops are. Everybody kind of goes off the leader when he stops. That’s what we did.” (Courtesy of indycar.com)

Robert Wickens, who was injured in that terrible crash five weeks ago at Pocono, posted two videos this week on Twitter to give updates. In the first one, he thanked the fans for their support, and in the second one, he was shown riding a stationary bike. Both videos can be viewed below. The whole Indycar community can’t wait for him to get better and climb back behind the wheel of his Lucas Oil #6 Honda Indycar. #GetWellWickens

https://twitter.com/robertwickens?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Robinson, Mark. “Dixon Reels in Fifth Championship with Steady Sonoma Runner-up Finish.” IndyCar.com, 16 Sept. 2018, www.indycar.com/News/2018/09/09-16-Sonoma-race-recap-final.

Olson, Jeff. “Hunter-Reay Quietly Dominates to Win Sonoma Finale.” IndyCar.com, 19 Sept. 2018, www.indycar.com/News/2018/09/09-19-Hunter-Reay-Sonoma-winner.

Written on September 23, 2018