Honda Indy Edmonton Race Report

Circuit: City Centre Airport (1.973-mile temporary street circuit) Edmonton, Alberta
2009 Winner: Will Power (Team Penske Honda) 109.498 mph average
Weather: Sunny, mild, 78 degrees F

Dixon Prevails in Wild Edmonton Finish

A late-race restart, teammates battling for victory and a 'blocking' call from race officials combined to produce an unlikely finish to the Honda Indy Edmonton, with Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon passing Team Penske's Will Power in a multi-car scrum on a restart with just two laps remaining, then taking the victory when a penalty was handed down to race leader Helio Castroneves for blocking Power.

Dixon claimed his first road-course victory of 2010, while Castroneves was penalized by series Chief Steward Brian Barnhart with a time penalty, moving him back to a 10th-place finish, after he failed to heed a black flag penalty for the block.

Power, who dominated much of the race, finished second, with Dario Franchitti rounding out the top three in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara.

For the 11th consecutive race weekend in 2010, all 25 drivers completed the event without a single failure of the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend, drivers and teams logged a total of 9,290 trouble-free miles around the challenging temporary circuit set up at the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

Starting from the pole, Power looked to be in command of the 95-lap event until the final round of pit stops on Lap 73 when Power's Penske team sent him back out on the harder "primary" tires while teammate Castroneves elected to go with the softer, but less durable, alternate "red" compound tires.

Castroneves passed Power in Turn One on Lap 77 and held that advantage until a late-race caution flag on Lap 88. When the green waved for the final time at the start of Lap 93, Power got a jump on his teammate and the pair headed into Turn One side-by-side, with Castroneves on the inside. The pair never made contact, but Power was forced off-line to the outside, allowing Dixon to slip past for second - a move that became the winning pass when Race Control ordered a black flag for Castroneves' defensive move against Power.

Almost lost in the commotion, Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay passed veteran Paul Tracy on the same restart to finish fifth; while Tracy led home a 6-7-8-9 place result for KV Racing Technology, their best team finish of 2010, as teammates Mario Moraes, E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato followed Tracy across the line.

After back-to-back temporary circuit events in Canada, the IZOD IndyCar Series will take a one-week break, then returns to the U.S.A. and the challenging 2.25-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the August 8 Honda Indy 200.

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 3rd, finished 1st, 2nd IZOD IndyCar Series win of 2010, 23rd career victory: "It definitely was not what I expected to happen at the end. It feels pretty strange to only lead two laps but actually win the race. It was a long, tough day and we fought oversteer through the early part of the race. But the car was much better near the finish. On the last restart, it was 'all on' and you could definitely see that something was going to happen there [involving the lead cars]. I went down to the inside and when Will [Power] slid to the outside, that was my chance. We finally got the monkey off our back this year with a road-course win."

Will Power (#12 Team Penske Honda) started 1st, finished 2nd, continues to lead the drivers' championship standings after 11 of 17 races: "I understand Helio's [Castroneves] position: if you're leading on the last restart you want to keep your position. He had the inside line and I went to the outside, but got on the 'marbles' and Scott [Dixon] got by me. I had a run on [Helio] and he blocked me, but I would say a black flag is a pretty harsh penalty. Not the best day for Team Penske, but we still managed to gain a bit on the championship and it was good to be on the podium once again in Canada."

Steve Eriksen (Vice President, Honda Performance Development) on today's race: "The focus will understandably be on the finish, but we found a number of things to be pleased about today. Congratulations to Target Chip Ganassi Racing for its victories here at Edmonton and in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. It was also great to see KV Racing put four cars in the top 10, led by longtime Honda driver Paul Tracy, competing with the support of Honda Canada. The Honda Indy V-8 engine once again demonstrated outstanding reliability, as we've come to expect by now. I was also pleased to have the opportunity to meet and chat with some of our Canadian grassroots motorsports participants, who were here on the support racing card this weekend. Now it's on to another Honda-sponsored race at Mid-Ohio, where we're always pleased to see such great support from our Ohio-based Honda associates."