Scott Dixon Closes Out NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season With 12th Honda Victory of 2023
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
・Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon comes from behind yet again to score his third victory of 2023; and series-leading 12th win for Honda
・Teammate and series champion Alex Palou runs third in season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
・12 victory season for Honda best since 2005
For the third time in the last four races, Scott Dixon overcame early adversity to win, claiming his 56th career victory in today's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, season finale to the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
Caught up in an opening-lap multi-car crash and resulting "drive-through" penalty, Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team once again went "off strategy" early in the 95-lap contest, and combined speed with excellent tire strategy and fuel saving to emerge with a late-race lead he easily maintained to the checkers at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Already a five-race winner this season, Dixon's teammate Alex Palou led a race-high 51 laps to control much of the first half of the race. But a series of mid- and late-race cautions worked to Dixon's advantage as he assumed command on Lap 76 and remained at the front for the remaining laps. The Ganassi organization completed an outstanding season as Marcus Armstrong secured series Rookie of the Year honors with an eighth-place finish.
Today's victory at Laguna Seca was a series-high 12th for Honda in the 17-race 2023 season, as the manufacturer scored wins on every type of circuit visited by INDYCAR: road, temporary street and oval. It also marked the eighth time Honda has scored double-digit victory totals in a single Indy car season and a "win rate" of just over 70% this year.
Fast Facts
・Honda's 12 wins this season is the highest win total in a 17-race series in the 12-year history of the company's 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 design. That's a win rate of just over 70% in 2023.
・Honda's best previous season with this engine was 11 wins in 2018, This engine, which carries the internal designation "FC8" and built and developed at HPD, has won 88 Indy car races since its introduction in 2012.
・In addition to sweeping all five temporary street circuit races this year, Honda drivers and teams won on six of the seven permanent road circuits, and at the World Wide Technology Raceway oval, every circuit type on the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule.
Next
Today's Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey concludes the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The 2024 season gets underway March 8-10 with a return to the Florida Gulf Coast for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Wild day! Obviously starting with a penalty and then getting a penalty right at the start was not great, it was very up-and-down. Ultimately, having the option to do fuel mileage when we needed to and jump the pack when we needed to was great. I was shocked to see the 28 and the 5 pit when they did. That Honda fuel mileage made it really easy to run out front today and we had great speed too. All-in-all, to finish the year on a win is huge.
It's been an amazing year. Five wins, 10 podiums! And today was going to be a really good race as well. The yellows didn't help us, but it was a fun race. Everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing did an awesome job giving us the cars we needed and I'm super happy to get our second championship together.
A great end to a great season here at Laguna Seca. Congrats to everyone at Honda, HPD and Chip Ganassi Racing on another race win—our 12th of the year, and a championship 1-2 for Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, as well as Rookie of the Year honors for Marcus Armstrong. We're looking forward to fighting for more next year with the new IndyCar Hybrid engines
