New Zealand motor racing driver Scott Dixon has shown he remains a contender in Indycars after winning the latest round in California.
Dixon has won the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the 57th victory of his career.
He is now just 10 wins behind American great AJ Foyt.
In what became a battle of race strategies, Dixon made his second pit stop earlier than the rest of the contenders and went into fuel saving mode late in the race.
The 43-year-old held on to beat Colton Herta and team-mate Alex Palou.
After the race, he paid to New Zealand motorsport benefactor the late Sir Colin Giltrap who was key to helping Dixon early on in his career.
"This win I am going to dedicate to Sir Colin Giltrap. He obviously helped start my career. We lost him this week so a huge thank you to him and all the support back home."
Colin Giltrap during a press conference for the New Zealand A1 Grand Prix in 2007. (Source: Getty)
Dixon rates the win a one of his toughest career given the fuel saving strategy.
"It's way up there... the stress level was high. Those guys were coming fast and strong and we were off by a lap or two from making it easy.
"Other fuel [strategy] races I have done we've been under control for the whole stint but... last two laps the team came on and said go for it we have got plenty of fuel and away we went.
"We made it back to pits so we had loads left," joked Dixon.
It is the second time Dixon has won the Long Beach event, following up from his success in 2015.
Dixon was now second in the Indycar standings after two rounds, 12 points behind Joseph Newgarden, who finished fourth today.
Today's victory means Dixon has extended his record streak of consecutive seasons with at least one victory to 20.
Dixon wins final race of IndyCar season, finishes second overall
September 11, 2023
Sir Colin Giltrap, founder of Giltrap Group, dies at 84
Thu, Apr 18
Fellow New Zealander Marcus Armstrong was 12th today, while Scott McLaughlin failed to finish.
rnz.co.nz
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