Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing's Takuma Sato claimed a dominant NTT IndyCar Series win at Barber Motorsports Park in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
The Japanese driver led for the majority of the 90 laps without being troubled by his rivals, except for a late mistake on lap 85 where he ran off the track into Museum corner and lost a small piece of bodywork in the process.
A small drama during his first pit stop nearly paved way for Sato's race to fall away after the left rear struggled to go on the first time, however, he narrowly made it out ahead of Scott Dixon in second place and was able to make back the gap.
Dixon's luck at Barber Motorsports Park is still yet to improve after he finished second for the sixth time in 10 races at the Alabama circuit, the Kiwi was unable to keep up with Sato in the lead and battled hard with RLL's Graham Rahal in the opening stint, but after the #15 suffered throttle issues, Dixon took full advantage to move into second in the points standings heading to Long Beach.
Sebastien Bourdais took a different strategy into the race and ran a two-stopper, going against the majority of the field and their three stops to claim the final spot on the podium in third. A long first stint saw the four-time series champion pit on lap 29, allowing the Frenchman to jump some of his rivals and eventually battle Dixon toward the end of the race for second on the softer red Firestone tyres.
2017 series champion Josef Newgarden finished fourth after storming through the field in what was a mixed day for Team Penske. After a torrid qualifying session saw the #2 Penske-Chevrolet start the race down in 16th, a forceful three-stop strategy was able to give the Nashville-born driver the pace to push throughout the race.
Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi crossed the line in fifth after he was past by Newgarden in the final laps of the race. It had looked like the Californian driver could challenge for the podium but could not extract the speed from the #27 NAPA entry.
Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports managed to secure their best finish of the 2019 season so far with James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson securing sixth and seventh respectively. After battling with illness prior to the race weekend, Hinchcliffe maintained a solid pace to battle with the leaders throughout the race.
Ericsson qualified a lowly 20th but was able to push his way through the field on his assertive three-stop strategy, pulling moves on many of the fields established drivers.
Ryan Hunter-Reay finished eighth in what was a rather anonymous race for the 2012 series champion. He struggled to keep up with the other frontrunners but was able to hold onto to a top 10 position.
Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud pushed his way through the pack like team-mate Newgarden to cross the line in ninth ahead of another mover in Felix Rosenqvist who rounded out the top 10.
A caution going into the mid-way part of the race was brought out by the stricken RLL of Graham Rahal, where his #15 One-Cure entry lost all power on the exit of the Museum corner.
A.J Foyt's Tony Kanaan hit Carlin's Max Chilton into the tyre wall as both tried to make the pit lane with what appeared to be a late call to the Brazilian.
Colton Herta initially ran with the frontrunners but a fuel pickup issue meant his Honda engine struggled to run properly forcing his retirement.
Ed Jones was also handed a drive-through penalty after majorly jumping the initial race start from the back of the field and passing nearly over 15 cars en route to Turn 1.
The next race is in Long Beach, California on April 12-14.
