SONOMA, Calif.: One unique feature of Infineon Raceway is Turn 2, where the drivers make a sharp right after accelerating up a steep hill moments after crossing the starting line.
Maneuvering through that section of the 12-turn, 2.3-mile track is tricky enough when the cars are single file. When they’re bunched together, it gets even dicier.
So it was Sunday at the start of the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, as a cluster of cars — including then-point leader Scott Dixon’s-collided as they moved through Turn 2 on the opening lap, effectively knocking them out contention.
But the mishap occurred behind pole-sitter Dario Franchitti, who then held off Ryan Briscoe to lead all 75 laps and collect his first win at the Infineon course in the hills of northern California wine country.
Yet with his second-place finish, Briscoe left Sonoma with the lead in the IndyCar championship standings.
He leads by four points over Franchitti and 20 points over third-place Dixon — Franchitti’s teammate at Target Chip Ganassi Racing — with three races left in the series’ 17-race schedule.
Rookie Mike Conway was third — his best IndyCar finish yet — and Mario Moraes was fourth.
Starting from the pole “really set up today and allowed us to go and control the race,” said Franchitti, who now has four wins this season, tying him with Dixon for the series high. “I guess it wasn’t too eventful for everybody out there, but I was just trying to be perfect, not make any mistakes and keep everybody in the rear-view mirror,” Franchitti said.
Actually, the first lap was too eventful for the drivers collected in the accident. Besides Dixon, they included Danica Patrick, her Andretti Green Racing teammates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and E.J. Viso.
Most were able to continue after repairs but finished well behind the leaders on a clear, breezy day in the low 70s. Kanaan, for instance, finished eighth, and Patrick was 16th.
“It’s frustrating when this all happens on the first lap, but it is what it is,” Patrick said.
