Dixon wins 2015 IndyCar title via tiebreaker
Scott Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya tie for 2015 IndyCar title after a thrilling season finale at Sonoma Raceway.
Race winner and series champion Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with wife Emma
IndyCar Series
In a remarkable turn of events, Scott Dixon has come from 47 points back to win the 2015 IndyCar championship, the fourth of his impressive career.
Juan Pablo Montoya has led the points in every single race of the season - except the last one. After a restart earlier in the race, he and Team Penske Will Power collided. Montoya was forced to pit for a front wing change, giving the edge to Dixon and Graham Rahal.
"It doesn't matter what happened," Montoya said of the contact. "We fought all year and it's just a shame."
"I feel bad for Juan," said Power. "I went to switch back under Newgarden and I think that damaged his wing"
Montoya fought his way through the pack and with ten laps remaining, he needed to pass three more cars to keep the crown. Two of those cars took care of that for him as Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal got together. Rahal spun and Bourdais suffered a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. Rahal had some incensed words with the Frenchman after the race.
Montoya had a 3.4 second gap to Ryan Briscoe to make up, which he was able to cut into, but it wasn't enough.
"We threw it away," Montoya added. "You put double points in one race and it doesn't matter what you did all year."
Will Power ended up third in points, 63 back. Rahal is fourth, 66 behind and Castroneves brought home fifth, 103 points off the lead.
Ryan Hunter-Reay and Charlie Kimball were the other two drivers who stood on the podium. Tony Kanaan and Briscoe rounded out the top five.
Pos | Driver | Car/Engine | Time | Gap |
1 | Scott Dixon | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'14.2620 | |
2 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'20.3735 | 6.1115 |
3 | Charlie Kimball | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'21.3899 | 7.1279 |
4 | Tony Kanaan | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'23.1650 | 8.9030 |
5 | Ryan Briscoe | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'24.3369 | 10.0749 |
6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'25.5168 | 11.2548 |
7 | Will Power | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'26.7497 | 12.4877 |
8 | Takuma Sato | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'30.3508 | 16.0888 |
9 | Rodolfo Gonzalez | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'35.0631 | 20.8011 |
10 | Mikhail Aleshin | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'36.8369 | 22.5749 |
11 | Marco Andretti | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'37.9329 | 23.6709 |
12 | Oriol Servia | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'38.7134 | 24.4514 |
13 | Sebastian Saavedra | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'39.0395 | 24.7775 |
14 | Gabby Chaves | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'39.7977 | 25.5357 |
15 | Helio Castroneves | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'40.3279 | 26.0659 |
16 | Simon Pagenaud | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'41.5805 | 27.3185 |
17 | Stefano Coletti | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'49.4265 | 35.1645 |
18 | Graham Rahal | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'50.7458 | 36.4838 |
19 | Jack Hawksworth | Dallara/Honda | 2:09'53.2024 | 38.9404 |
20 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dallara/Chevrolet | 2:09'56.8576 | 42.5956 |
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