Reigning IndyCar Series Champion Scott Dixon claimed his second win of the 2009 season, by taking the chequered flag at the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile on Sunday 31 May.
The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver who started from fourth on the grid, passed pole sitter and 2008 race winner Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske) on lap 201 to claim the victory. Dixon completed the 225 laps in 1 hour, 38 minutes and 43.9552 seconds at an average speed of 138.784 mph, making this year’s event the fastest race at the Mile under IRL IndyCar sanction.
Race winner Scott Dixon, #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, said:
“I’m just so stoked to win here at the Milwaukee Mile – it’s such a tough track. The tires were fantastic. Racing in the traffic today, with the Firestone tires I was able to use just about any part of the track that I needed to. The tires were very consistent, and overall we had great grip. I don’t know – we must have had super sticky sets of Firestones today with the way things worked out!”
Joe Barbieri, Manager, Firestone Racing, said:
“Short ovals like the Milwaukee Mile certainly present a unique set of challenges for the Firestone Racing engineers, but the Firestone Firehawk racing radials were up to the task today. We saw lots of long green flag stints that included side-by-side racing and passing throughout the event, which is a testament to the confidence the drivers had in their tires. Based on Scott’s comments, it sounded like the tires would work just about anywhere on the track. Marbles tend to be an issue at these short ovals, but with the final caution period giving the sweepers a chance to sweep the marbles up, we saw a great dash to the finish in the last 60 or so laps. Congratulations to Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing for a great race.”
Dixon heads into next Saturdays’ night race at the Texas Motor Speedway with a four-point lead in the season standings over Briscoe and Target Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Dario Franchitti.
The seventh round of the IndyCar series takes place on Sunday 21 June at the Iowa Speedway.