The New Zealand driver Scott Dixon has finished 12th in the latest round of the Indycars series in Iowa.
Scott Dixon Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Dixon had mechanical issues with his car today and finished well behind race winner James Hinchcliffe.
Dixon still leads the drivers championship with most of his nearest rivals also finishing down the field today.
Hinchcliffe, who failed to qualify for this year's Indianapolis 500, finished ahead of Spencer Pigot, who placed a career-best second.
Takuma Sato finished third, his best result since winning the 2017 Indianapolis 500.
Dixon, who finished four laps off the pace, saw his points lead shrink to 33 points over Josef Newgarden, who was fourth today, after 11 of 17 races.
Alexander Rossi finished ninth in the race and is third in the standings, 41 points behind Dixon.
"We kind of got stuck behind Rossi on the first stint and his pace kind of backed us up," Dixon said, adding that a mistake on a late pit stop put the front tires on his Honda incorrectly.
"That's racing and it's no one's fault. The big problem for us was the tire issue toward the end, having the fronts on backward. That really put us in the hole and we should have finished better than we did."
The next round is in Toronto next weekend.
-RNZ
