•Scott Dixon recovers from Saturday race crash to win Sunday finale

•Marcus Ericsson completes 1-2 result for Honda

Recovering in the best possible fashion from a crash and last-place finish in Saturday's opening race, Scott Dixon gambled on running a longer opening stint than many of his rivals, led a race-high 44 laps, and won Sunday's second round of the Dual in Detroit doubleheader NTT IndyCar Series weekend. The victory was the first of the season for Dixon, and the Honda driver's 45th career IndyCar win.

Starting sixth on the softer compound Firestone 'Red' sidewall tires, Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing team avoided the temptation of pitting during a very early, Lap 1 caution, enabling the defending series champion to complete the 70-lap race distance on just two pit stops. Once in the lead for the third and final time on Lap 50, Dixon remained in front for the final 20 laps to the checkered flag, despite a total of five caution periods during the incident-filled race.

Formula One veteran, but Indy car rookie, Marcus Ericsson had his best finish of the season, taking second in his Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda. Ericsson was consistently one of the quickest of the 'early pit stop' drivers, working his way from 12th on the grid to second at the race's Lap 35 midpoint. In the final laps, while unable to challenge Dixon for the win, Ericsson easily held off former series champion Will Power to hold on to second.

Honda drivers claimed nine of the top 10 finishing positions today, with Andretti Autosport teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti finishing fourth through sixth respectively. Hunter-Reay managed to stay at the head of the inter-team contest despite a deflating rear tire during the final three laps.

Sebastien Bourdais finished ninth, despite damaging the nose and front wings of his Honda after contact with Spencer Pigot on Lap 13. Bourdais' Dale Coyne team was able to repair the damage while keeping him on the lead lap and he then put in a stirring recovery drive. Teammate Santino Ferrucci was another IndyCar Series rookie to shine today, leading 20 laps – second only to Dixon – before finishing 10th.

Next

Indy car's five-week run of consecutive May-June event weekends concludes next week, as the series heads south to Dallas-Fort Worth for Round Nine and the first night race of the 2019 season, the DXC Technology 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 8.

Social media content and video links from this weekend's Honda IndyCar Series action in Detroit – and companion Acura Motorsports sports car racing activities – are available on the HPD Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) channels. Produced by the Carolinas Production Group, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.

Photo credit: Honda
posted on conceptcarz.com

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