Dixon wins at Sonoma to take IndyCar lead

Scott Dixon took advantage of Dario Franchitti’s late collision Sunday at Sonoma, Calif., winning for the fourth time this season and taking the lead in the IndyCar Series championship with two races remaining.

Franchitti, starting from the pole and beginning the Motorola Indy 300 with an eight-point lead over Dixon in the race for the title, dominated the 80-lap race at Infineon Raceway, controlling it until the last round of pit stops.

Dixon came off pit road just ahead of Franchitti on Lap 68, but with cold tires, he had to yield to Franchitti heading into Turn 1.

Marco Andretti was the last of the leaders to pit and he also came out just ahead of Franchitti on Lap 69. But Andretti tried to hold off Franchitti and the two banged together, with Franchitti’s car sustaining damage to the front wing.

After the restart on Lap 72, Dixon and Helio Castroneves both easily drove past Franchitti, struggling with the handling of his damaged car.

“We’re teammates and we look after each other and that shouldn’t happen,” Franchitti said of the contact with Andretti.

Dixon held off Castroneves to take a four-point lead over Franchitti heading into next week’s race at Belle Isle in Detroit.

Sebastien Bourdais won Champ Car’s inaugural Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder for his sixth victory this season.

Bruno Junqueira of Brazil was second on the 2.5-mile circuit. Graham Rahal, Bourdais’ rookie teammate at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, was third despite starting from 13th on the grid.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa won his second consecutive Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul, beating teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

Two-time defending Formula One champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren was third.