Simon Pagenaud won the 2017 IndyCar season finale at Sonoma Raceway, but it was Josef Newgarden who stole the show by winning his first career championship.
In the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, the 17th and final IndyCar race of the 2017 season, Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud took the checkered flag in front of the rest of the field for the first time since he won at Phoenix back in April.
Pagenaud, last year’s series champion, won the race around the 11-turn, 2.385-mile natural terrain Sonoma Raceway road course in Sonoma, California by a margin of 1.0986 over his teammate Josef Newgarden, who finished where he needed to finish to win his first career series championship at age 26. Pagenaud finished 2nd in the championship.
Team Penske’s other two drivers, who also entered the race in championship contention, both finished in the top 5, which gave the team four spots in the top 5 in the race. Will Power finished in 3rd place and Helio Castroneves finished in 5th.
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Scott Dixon, who was also in the championship hunt, broke up a potential Team Penske 1-2-3-4 sweep in the race with a 4th place finish, and he broke up a potential Team Penske 1-2-3-4 sweep in the championship standings with a 3rd place finish.
The other driver who entered the race eligible to win the championship, albeit by a longshot, was Alexander Rossi, who won the series most recent race at Watkins Glen. However, mechanical issues caused him to finish in 21st place a total of 25 laps off the pace.
The race featured a total of six lead changes among three different leaders. Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud both led 41 of the race’s 85 laps, with Conor Daly leading the other three. There were no caution period at all during the race.
Sebastien Bourdais finished in 9th place in his third race back from his nasty accident at Indianapolis 500 qualifying. His Dale Coyne Racing teammate Ed Jones, however, did not end his rookie season on a high note, as he failed to finish the race and ultimately ended up in 19th place. As the series lone full-time rookie, he still ended up as the 2017 IndyCar Rookie of the Year, however.
Jack Harvey finished in 18th in his second race of the season driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports as Mikhail Aleshin’s replacement. Zachary Claman DeMelo finished in 17th in his IndyCar debut driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Here are full race results from the 2017 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.
- Simon Pagenaud, #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet
- Josef Newgarden, #2, Team Penske, Chevrolet
- Will Power, #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet
- Scott Dixon, #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
- Helio Castroneves, #3, Team Penske, Chevrolet
- Graham Rahal, #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
- Marco Andretti, #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda
- Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda
- Sebastian Bourdais, #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda
- Conor Daly, #4, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
- Charlie Kimball, #83, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
- Max Chilton, #8, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
- Spencer Pigot, #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
- JR Hildebrand, #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
- Carlos Munoz, #14, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
- Tony Kanaan, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
- Zachary Claman DeMelo, #13, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
- Jack Harvey, #7, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
- Ed Jones, #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda
- Takuma Sato, #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda
- Alexander Rossi, #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda
- James Hinchcliffe, #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
Next: Final 2017 IndyCar standings
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