Brazil’s Helio Castroneves won the IndyCar Firestone 550 on Saturday night, taking his fourth career victory at Texas Motor Speedway to seize sole possession of the season points lead.
Castroneves, a three-time Indianapolis 500 champion, dominated most of the race over 228 laps around the 1.455-mile oval in his first victory on an oval course since 2010 at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi.
Castroneves — whose prior Texas titles came in 2004, 2006 and 2009 — leaped from his car and climbed the safety fence along the edge of the track after the victory, a tradition that has earned him the “Spider-Man” nickname.
The South American star took the lead on lap 97 and never lost it again. American Ryan Hunter-Reay was second with Brazil’s Tony Kanaan, who won last month’s Indianapolis 500, finishing third. American Ed Carpenter was fourth.
Castroneves began slowing as his tires wore down and Hunter-Reay closed over the final laps, but the Brazilian had enough speed to hold off the 2012 IndyCar season champion and Kanaan to become the seventh different winner in eight 2013 races.
“We had to manage the tires and manage the fuel,” Castroneves said. “It was the setup. We did a lot of homework and it paid off. It was great.”
Castroneves, who began the race level with Marco Andretti for the IndyCar season points lead, took a 259-237 points edge over the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti. Marco Andretti finished fifth, the last car on the lead lap.
Hunter-Reay is third in points, 27 off the pace, with Kanaan fourth, 64 points adrift and only one point ahead of Japan’s Takuma Sato and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud with New Zealand’s Scott Dixon 66 points back.
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