Motorsport: Minor mistake ruins Dixon's day

A pit stop error saw Scott Dixon drop from third to sixth during this morning's Indy 500. Photo / AP

Scott Dixon's dreams of scoring back-to-back Indy 500 wins in the United States this morning (NZ time) were ruined by a stubborn right rear wheel.

Dixon, who earlier led the race, was in third spot when he pitted with 37 laps of the 4km oval to go.

His pit stop was only 10 seconds but a problem putting on the wheel saw him rejoin the race in sixth from which he could not improve.

The win went to Brazil's Helio Castroneves who notched his third title at the legendary Brickyard after winning it in 2001 and 2002.

It was clear from the start that Castroneves' Team Penske and Dixon's Chip Ganassi Racing team had the strongest cars.

Castroneves led 66 laps and teammate Ryan Briscoe ran out front for 11. On the Ganassi side, Dixon set the pace for a race-best 73 laps, while his teammate Dario Franchitti, who won in 2007, led the other 50.

Dixon's powerful car lost its edge near the end of the more than three-hour race and he slipped back to sixth, failing to become the first driver since Castroneves to win back-to-back 500s.

"I was looking pretty good out there for a while," Dixon said.

"My car was great all day. The team did a fantastic job in preparing the car.

"We had great pit stops for the majority of the day, but for the last stop.

"We had a bit of a fumble. I'm not sure which tyre it was, but it cost us a good four or five spots.

"You lose that many spots, it's just too tough when everybody at the end is full fuel and trying to go flat out.

"It was a pretty uneventful day until the last 60 laps - one little mistake cost us. It was a tough day, pretty unfortunate."

Castroneves made his move on the 142nd lap, getting a good drive out of a corner to set up a slick slipstreaming pass that Dixon had no answer for.

From there, he ran to the finish unchallenged.

With the win Castroneves capped a perfect month, becoming the ninth driver to win the historic race three times.

Just 5-1/2 weeks ago, he was acquitted of most charges at a federal tax evasion trial, and the remaining count was thrown out on Friday.

Instead of going to prison for as long as six years, Castroneves pulled his red-and-white machine into Victory Lane at the Brickyard.

No wonder he was sobbing when team owner Roger Penske leaned in to give him a hug.

"Thanks for giving my life back," the 34-year-old Brazilian told Penske, who earned his record 15th win at Indy.

Castroneves completed a clean sweep of every Indy prize, also claiming the pole position and winning the pit-stop competition.

Throw in the federal government's decision to drop the last of the tax charges just minutes before he went out for the final practice, and "this is the best month of May ever," said Castroneves, now only one win away from joining the most elite group of all: four-time Indy winners A J Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.

Castroneves pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick, who eclipsed her historic fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005 by crossing the strip of bricks in third.

- NZPA