Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon had a day to forget in the second race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin on Monday.
Dixon had to settle for 13th, as American rookie Colton Herta became the youngest IndyCar race winner at 18 years, 11 months and 25 days.
Starting from sixth, Dixon climbed as high as third, but an incident with 15 laps involving teammate Felix Rosenqvist changed the outcome of the race.
Rosenqvist was involved in a crash near the entry to pit row, which brought out yellow flags and closed the pits.
As Dixon, along with other race leaders, hadn't taken his final pit stop, he had to wait for Rosenqvist's car to be moved and by that time, the rest of the field had almost caught up, due to the flag.
Then, Australian Will Power, who had led for the entire race, stalled in the pits, which kept the yellow flag out for a total of six laps.
When the race resumed, Dixon was back in 15th and he managed to climb only two places before the race finished.
As Herta was the few who had pitted before the crash, he was free to storm into the lead and held on to create history, with fellow Americans Josef Newgarden and Ryan Hunter-Reay in second and third.
The result sees Dixon slip to third in the overall standings with 57 points, behind Newgarden (93) and Herta (75).
The previous youngest IndyCar winner was Graham Rahal in 2008, at age 19, three months, two days. Herta turns 19 at the end of March.
The next IndyCar race is scheduled for Alabama's Barber Motorsports Park next month.
Newshub.
