New Zealander Scott Dixon has had his lead in the Indycar Championship cut after finishing fifth in the latest race in Ohio yesterday.
The race was won by American Alexander Rossi, who is now just 46 points behind by Dixon in second place.
Dixon said he did not have a lot of luck yesterday.
"Basically, a frustrating day. I think the car had some good speed. We were really quick early on in a stint; we kind of faded a little bit. The track condition was just not great.
"We would pit and one of the cars in front of us, or right around us, would pit, too, and we'd fall behind them and it just kind of put us back. It was one of those days where one little, tiny move could have jumped us another two or three spots.''
Rossi started from pole and used a two-stop strategy to run away from the field, finishing 12.8sec ahead of rookie Robert Wickens in the caution-free race on the 13-turn, 3.63km permanent road course. The race covered 90 laps and 325.5km.
It was Rossi's fourth career win and second of the season.
"It's what we needed. We said coming into this weekend that we have to execute for five [race] weekends in a row; this is the start of that, hopefully,'' Rossi said.
"The Andretti team was so on it today. They gave me an amazing race car, and this one's for them.''
There are four races remaining.
Dixon, who made his 300th IndyCar start yesterday, has won the championship four times, most recently in 2015.
- RNZ and Reuters
