Franchitti Puts TomTom Car in Victory Lane, Goes Two-for-Two at Iowa
Speedway
NEWTON, Iowa (June 22, 2009)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario
Franchitti scored his second win in as many races at Iowa Speedway Sunday
in the Iowa Corn Indy 250, beating Ryan Briscoe to the line by 5.0132
seconds. Franchitti's crew helped him get to the front, turning the
trick on a quick pit stop on Lap 196 of 250 as the leaders cycled through
green flag stops. Teammate Scott Dixon had contact Helio Castroneves
early in the race, forcing both cars to pit for repairs. Dixon finished
fifth.
With the results, Franchitti moves from third to second in IndyCar points
with 238 (-3 from leader Briscoe), while Dixon slips from second to third
in the standings with 226 (-15).
The 2009 IndyCar Series season continues June 27 with the SunTrust Indy
Challenge at Richmond International Raceway. The race will be telecast
live in High Definition at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. The race will air
live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The
radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com.
Notes:
* - Dario Franchitti earns his 10th career IndyCar Series victory
and his second victory of the season. He also won at Long Beach.
* - Overall, it was Franchitti's 20th career open wheel win
(CART, IndyCar)
* - Franchitti has won both of his starts at Iowa Speedway. He also
won the race in 2007.
* - This is the 28th IndyCar Series victory for Target Chip Ganassi
Racing. This is the team's fourth win of the season.
* - Overall, it was Target Chip Ganassi Racing's 68th career
open wheel win (CART, IndyCar)
* - Scott Dixon finished fifth, his fourth top-five finish of the
season.
Dario Franchitti: "I like driving here. We tested at Iowa last Wednesday.
The TomTom guys did a really, really good job coming up with a setup, and
they were awesome in the pits. I just went out, did my job and hung on,
made some good moves in traffic and here we are. More than anywhere,
today is a team win because those pit stops moved us up in track
position."
Scott Dixon: "We tried to go with two different strategies, and it looks
like Dario just had a stellar day. Once we touched (with Helio
Castroneves' car), we cycled back. And once we got back in traffic, it
was really tough. We should have done much better, but at least one of
the cars did well this weekend."
-credit: cgr
