IndyCar pace setter wins third race of season, in Texas

Scott Dixon, winner of this year’s Indy 500, stretched his lead in the IndyCar championship with a split-second victory over Helio Castroneves at the Texas Speedway last weekend.

The picture is deceiving, as both cars were cruising at around 90mph when they crossed the start/finish line - a late crash involving Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay meant that the race ended under waved yellow flags; so Castroneves was not allowed to overtake Dixon.

Many disgruntled fans were seen leaving the Texas track even before Dixon took the chequered flag. This is a big problem for IndyCar; the series should not allow its races to finish under a yellow flag - it’s the second time in a week that a late crash has forced an IndyCar race to end like that. Ryan Briscoe won in Milwaukee under the same conditions; on that occasion Dixon was the frustrated driver stuck in second place.

British IndyCar star escapes injury after his car flips

Here’s our very own Dan Wheldon, being helped away from his wrecked car, after a scary-looking crash during a practice session for last weekend’s IndyCar event at the Texas Motor Speedway. The Englishman’s car veered off line, hit the outside wall, and then flipped over on the infield grass. He escaped serious injury, and went on to finish fourth in the race, which was won by Dan’s team-mate, Scott Dixon. It was Wheldon’s fourth top-five finish in the past five races.

Watch video footage of the crash below…