Scott Dixon sweeps Toronto doubleheader

Scott Dixon dominated Race No. 2 of the Honda Indy Toronto from the pole and scored his third-consecutive victory in the IZOD IndyCar Series on Sunday on the street circuit at Exhibition Place.

As a result of sweeping both races in the doubleheader, Dixon earned an additional $100,000 bonus from the SONAX Perfect Finish Award.

The victory also places him securely in championship contention, just 29 points behind Helio Castroneves who finished second on Sunday. Sebastien Bourdais finished third to complete his second podium in as many days but the story all weekend was Dixon.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a dominant day,” said Dixon, who led 81 of the 85 laps. “I’m just happy for the team.”

Over the course of seven days, Dixon has won three times and jumped from fifth in the standings to second with just six races remaining.

Castroneves entered the race with a 39-point cushion over Ryan Hunter-Reay but has to worry about Dixon now with the defending champion’s struggles over the past few weekends. While Hunter-Reay has fallen to 69 points back, it’s Dixon that has all the momentum and has been the best statistical performer at Mid-Ohio in recent years -- the site of the next IndyCar race on August 4.

Dixon has won the previous two races held at the Lexington, Ohio road course.

Dario Franchitti started on the outside pole and recovered from a first-lap accident to finish fourth while EJ Viso surged from a 10th-place start to complete the top-five.

The standing start that was promised for Saturday but aborted due to a stalled car was rescheduled for the Sunday race and went off without error. Ed Carpenter stalled at the start of the race but got going before the field came back around.

The complete results of race No. 2 of the Toronto doubleheader can be found below.