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2013 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

Race details
15th round of the 2013 IndyCar Series season
Date	August 25, 2013
Official name	GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma
Location	Sonoma Raceway
Course	Road course 2.303 mi / 3.706 km
Distance	85 laps 195.755 mi / 315.010 km
Pole position
Driver	Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time	1:17.5271
Podium
First	Will Power (Team Penske)
Second	Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing)
Third	Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing)

The 2013 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma was an IndyCar Series race held on August 25, 2013 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The race was the fifteenth of the 2013 IndyCar Series season, and was won by Will Power of Team Penske.

Report

Background

The previous race of the season, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, was won by Charlie Kimball. The 2012 edition of Sonoma race was won by Ryan Briscoe.

Entering the race, James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon were tied for the most wins with three. In the points race, Hélio Castroneves held the lead with 453 points, followed by Dixon (422), Ryan Hunter-Reay (388), Marco Andretti (377) and Simon Pagenaud (350) rounded out the top five.

Qualifying

Dario Franchitti won his 33rd career and final pole position, his fourth of 2013 and third at the track, with a lap time of 1:17.5271. Teammate Scott Dixon started second with a time of 1:17.7196, Team Penske teammates Will Power and Hélio Castroneves were in third and fourth, respectively. Ryan Hunter-Reay closed out the top five starting spots. Charlie Kimball, Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal, James Hinchcliffe and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the starting top ten. J. R. Hildebrand, making his return to IndyCar since the Indianapolis 500, started 18th, while Ryan Briscoe, running his final race of the season, started 22nd. Lucas Luhr started his IndyCar debut in 25th. The race was also Tony Kanaan's 311th, tying him with Jimmy Vasser for most consecutive IndyCar starts.

Race

The race featured a track record seven cautions, four of which came in turn 7. Meanwhile, Scott Dixon and Will Power battled throughout the day, but during the final pit stops under caution, Dixon sped out of his pit box and struck Power's right rear tire carrier, sending the carrier into another pit member, while another was injured by an air gun. None of the three were seriously injured, and were treated with ice. As hitting pit crew members and pit equipment results in a penalty, Dixon fell back to 21st and finished 15th. The penalty became controversial after Dixon believed Power's crew member walked in front of Dixon's car intentionally. Dixon eventually called the ruling "pretty annoying"; IndyCar race director Beaux Barfield stated that replays Dixon hadn't seen of the incident showed him driving too close to Power's car, which was getting serviced at the time. As for Power, he led for the remainder of the race, and beat Justin Wilson by 1.2 seconds for his nineteenth career IndyCar victory and first in 25 races, while Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti and Simon Pagenaud closed out the top five. The win was Power's third at Sonoma in four years, as he continues to be the only IndyCar driver with multiple wins at the track.

Sometime during the later portion of the race, Andretti made contact with Power, which led to a confrontation between Andretti and Power's car owner Roger Penske after the race.

The points standings featured Castroneves increasing his then 31-point lead over Dixon to a 39-point lead (479 points to 440), while Ryan Hunter-Reay (417), Marco Andretti (409), Simon Pagenaud (380) and Dario Franchitti (379) remained as the top six, Justin Wilson and Will Power leapt past James Hinchcliffe and Charlie Kimball for seventh and eight, respectively, dropping Hinchcliffe and Kimball to ninth and tenth.

References

1. Cavin, Curt (2013-08-04). "Charlie Kimball wins 1st IndyCar race with victory at Mid-Ohio". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
2. "Ryan Briscoe wins at Sonoma". ESPN. Associated Press. 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
3. "James Hinchcliffe wins at St. Pete". ESPN. Associated Press. 2013-03-25. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
4. Cavin, Curt (2013-05-05). "IndyCar: James Hinchcliffe wins at Sao Paulo; Indy is up next". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
5. "Scott Dixon wins in IndyCar Series return to Pocono". ESPN. Associated Press. 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
6. Fryer, Jenna (2013-07-14). "Scott Dixon sweeps IndyCar's Toronto doubleheader". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
7. ^ "2013 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
8. "Dario Franchitti wins IndyCar pole at Sonoma". USA Today. Associated Press. 2013-08-24. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
9. "Dario Franchitti takes IndyCar pole at Sonoma Raceway". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 2013-08-24. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
10. ^ "2013 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
11. ^ Matsuda, Darryl (2013-08-24). "Dario Franchitti wins Sonoma IndyCar pole". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
12. "Franchitti Flies To IndyCar Pole At Sonoma". Fox Sports. Associated Press. 2013-08-24. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
13. Corrêa, João (2013-08-25). "Newgarden 17th, Luhr 25th on starting grid at Sonoma Raceway". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
14. ^ "Will Power wins in Sonoma". ESPN. Associated Press. 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
15. "Power wins controversial race in Sonoma". Yahoo! Sports. 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
16. "Will Power wins Sonoma IndyCar event after Scott Dixon penalized". United Press International. 2013-08-25. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
17. "Will Power wins in Sonoma after late Scott Dixon penalty". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 2013-08-25. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-27.

• 2013 in IndyCar
• Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma
• 2013 in sports in California
• August 2013 sports events in the United States