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Fuel if you think it’s over

Sport

Indy Car has always produced nail-biting race finishes, often with fractions of a second between the lead cars, but the climax to this year’s thrilling three-way championship fight ultimately came down to fuel strategy rather than on-track performance.

After an unprecedented 14 changes of title lead in the 16 races leading up to Homestead it was always going to be an ‘all or nothing’ culmination to this stellar ping-pong season.

At the end of 200 edge-of-the-seat laps it was Chip Ganassi driver Dario Franchitti who came up trumps, beating his team-mate Scott Dixon into second place in the standings and Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe into third.

A brave gamble on fuel strategy played right into Franchitti’s hands in the final stages of the Homestead race as he watched title rivals Dixon and Briscoe make a late fuel stop in what was the second fastest Indy Car race in history and the first ever to see no caution flags waved.

You have to feel for the guys who fell short, but particularly Ryan Briscoe, for whom second place summarised his year. An eighth runners-up spot of the season was not enough for the young Australian to take his first major motorsport title, but it had been oh so different just a handful of laps from the end of Saturday’s Homestead race. Coming into the event third in the standings, he had to lead the majority of laps and win the race to clinch the title, and he was doing precisely that until the late splash and dash for fuel handed the prize Franchitti.

But that, as they say, is racing and with five wins over the course of the season – equal to his team-mate’s tally - you can’t take anything away from Franchitti. While he continues his post-season celebrations, you can bet your bottom dollar that Dixon and Briscoe are already planning their assault for 2010, and if it’s anything like this season we can look forward to another vintage year.

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