The 6th Indy Grand Prix was held over last weekend on the IMS road course circuit inside the oval track and it wound up being the same old, same old. Simon Pagenaud won for the third time, tying with Penske teammate Will Power. Hot rookie Felix Rosenqvist won his first IndyCar pole with super vet Scott Dixon next to him. In fact, Honda powered cars held the first four starting spots. Pagenaud started 8th. The track was wet, cold, and slippery when the green flag dropped and Scott Dixon, starting second took the lead. As the rain soaked the track, the cars and the fans, Dixon seemed to be in control for much of the race and led the most laps but Pagenaud started his charge for the lead from 5th position with 10 laps to go. He got by Matheus Leist in 4th and then Jack Harvey in 3rd. On lap 84 Pagenaud caught Dixon in turn 7 and got underneath him in the turn. The cars touched slightly but the Frenchman roared ahead of the New Zealander and took the checked flag for the win. Dixon hung on for 2nd place. Dixon, the defending series champ remains winless for 2019, but is on second place in the point standings. He has finished in the runner up spot 3 times so far this season. Current series point leader Josef Newgarden finished a distant 15th, Jack Harvey finished a career best 3rd in his Meyer Shank Racing Team Honda and Leist finished a career best 4th in his A. J. Foyt Team Chevy. Spencer Pigot was 5th, Ed Jones was 6th, Will Power finished 7th, Rookie Rosenqvist, the pole setter held on for an 8th. Graham Rahal was 9th and rookie Santino Ferrucci finished 10th.
So the preliminaries are over and the big dance begins. Qualifications begin this coming weekend on Saturday the 18th and Sunday the 19th. However, the format has changed. The first 30 spots will be filled on Saturday. On Sunday the Fast Nine Shootout for the pole will be conducted. But the final 3 spots on the last row will be up for grabs to make the field shoot out. So it should be an exciting day for the fans. There are some very talented rookies entered this year and it will be very interesting to see how they perform. I am really excited about what’s coming up over the next two weekends at IMS.
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