Photo by: Eric Gilbert
Dixon Finishes Second, Franchitti 13th at St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 25, 2012) – Target Chip Ganassi Racing (TCGR) driver Scott Dixon led the most laps today with 37 (of 100) at the Honda Prix of St. Petersburg en route to a second-place finish, while Target teammate Dario Franchitti came home 13th.
Dixon started the race in seventh, jumping up to fourth by the end of the first lap. He would remain in the top-five running order, taking the lead on lap 21 as the No. 9 Target Honda Dallara ran on an alternate pit-strategy. Dixon would come to pit-road for his first stop of the day on lap 37 and regain the lead by lap 47 as pit-stops cycled through. He continued to lead until making his last stop of the day on lap 68. Dixon would run the remainder of the race in the top-three running order, finishing second.
Franchitti started the race in 10th, and moved up to eighth before the completion of the first lap. When a car stalled on the course on lap 13, Franchitti’s crew called him to pit-road, beating the caution-flag. Franchitti would continue to run in the top-15 as the leaders remained on an alternate pit-strategy. The No. 10 Target Honda Dallara came to pit road for the last time on lap 67, returning to the course in 16th. Franchitti would work his way up to 10th, but finish 13th after running out of fuel on the last lap.
With the results, Dixon is second in the IZOD IndyCar Series point standings with 42 markers, while Franchitti stands 13th with 17 markers.
Honda is second in the manufacturer point standings with six, trailing Chevrolet with nine.
Up next for Team Target is Round 2 of the IZOD IndyCar Series with the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama from Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday, April 1st (2:00 pm ET NBC Sports).
TCGR Quoteboard
Scott Dixon: “The day was tough, obviously, the first race back after losing Dan [Wheldon]. It’s been a sad start to the year, but for us it ended up being a great race. I don’t know that we quite had the speed, but we were great on restarts and were able to jump some people. All in all, a great day for Team Target. It was nice to finish this race, I haven’t finished this race in about three or four years.”
Dario Franchitti: “It was a tough day. We ran out of fuel leaving that last corner. The Target Team will do some work and be back strong in Barber.”
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
2021 IndyCar title is just the start for Ganassi's newest star
Franchitti: Dixon is “perfect wingman” for Palou’s IndyCar title bid
Franchitti to drive Honda two-seater IndyCar at Gateway
Power “didn't have any defense” against Dixon due to tire strategy
Was Long Beach really Scott Dixon’s greatest IndyCar drive yet?
How Marcus Ericsson finally unlocked his potential in IndyCar
Mercedes taking action to cure F1 car's “underlying balance” problem
Quartararo: Yamaha MotoGP satellite team "must be an extension of the factory"
Pedrosa says 'unexpected' MotoGP return pushed by "interesting" testing data
Lamborghini not concerned over Le Mans reliability despite rain-interrupted test
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
Ranking the top 10 IndyCar drivers of 2021
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments