2018 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma explained

The 2018 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma was the 17th and final round of the 2018 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on September 16 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified on pole position,^[1] and took victory in the 85-lap race.^[2]

This also marked the last IndyCar Series race at Sonoma, as since 2019, the season finale held at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

It was also the final race for Verizon Communications as the series sponsor, as NTT took over as title sponsor for 2019.

Results

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Firestone Fast 6
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	2	1:17.5068	1:17.4470	1:17.6277
2	9	Scott Dixon W	2	1:17.5943	1:17.5215	1:17.7599
3	1	Josef Newgarden	2	1:17.6219	1:17.4540	1:17.7937
4	98	Marco Andretti W	1	1:18.0842	1:17.5813	1:17.7999
5	8	Patricio O'Ward R	2	1:18.1765	1:17.5585	1:17.9737
6	27	Alexander Rossi	1	1:17.9283	1:17.5711	1:18.0019
7	12	Will Power W	1	1:17.9290	1:17.6495
8	22	Simon Pagenaud W	1	1:17.9197	1:17.7489
9	15	Graham Rahal	1	1:18.2625	1:17.9043
10	26	Zach Veach R	2	1:18.1307	1:17.9111
11	18	Sébastien Bourdais	2	1:18.3676	1:17.9242
12	30	Takuma Sato	1	1:18.0023	1:17.9919
13	19	Pietro Fittipaldi R	1	1:18.5281
14	10	Ed Jones	2	1:18.5088
15	5	James Hinchcliffe	1	1:18.5740
16	60	Jack Harvey R	2	1:18.5892
17	21	Spencer Pigot	1	1:18.6687
18	14	Tony Kanaan W	2	1:18.5966
19	88	Colton Herta R	1	1:18.6823
20	39	Santino Ferrucci R	2	1:18.6172
21	59	Max Chilton	1	1:18.7536
22	6	Carlos Muñoz	2	1:18.7211
23	4	Matheus Leist R	1	1:18.9665
24	23	Charlie Kimball	2	1:18.8495
25	20	Jordan King R	2	1:19.1519
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Race

		Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	2:02:19.1667	3	1	80	104
2	9	Scott Dixon W	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+2.7573	3	2		80
3	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+3.6550	3	7	4	71
4	22	Simon Pagenaud W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+4.6306	3	8		64
5	98	Marco Andretti W	Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian	Honda	85	+19.8030	3	4		60
6	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	85	+21.6393	3	11		56
7	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+28.3778	5	6		52
8	1	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+34.6288	3	3	1	49
9	8	Patricio O'Ward R	Harding Racing	Chevrolet	85	+42.8662	3	5		44
10	10	Ed Jones	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+44.2254	3	14		40
11	39	Santino Ferrucci R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	85	+44.6273	4	20		38
12	14	Tony Kanaan W	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	85	+1:00.4138	3	18		36
13	20	Jordan King R	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	85	+1:04.0637	3	25		34
14	26	Zach Veach R	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+1:05.4899	3	10		32
15	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	+1:12.8026	3	15		30
16	19	Pietro Fittipaldi R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	85	+1:14.2459	3	13		28
17	60	Jack Harvey R	Meyer Shank Racing with Schmidt Peterson	Honda	85	+1:15.6462	3	16		26
18	6	Carlos Muñoz	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	+1:18.6345	3	22		24
19	4	Matheus Leist R	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	85	+1:22.3819	4	23		22
20	88	Colton Herta R	Harding Racing	Chevrolet	85	+1:23.4673	3	19		20
21	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	Chevrolet	84	+1 lap	3	21		18
22	23	Charlie Kimball	Carlin	Chevrolet	76	+9 laps	4	24		16
23	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	66	+19 laps	3	9		14
24	21	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	38	Mechanical	3	17		12
25	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	15	Mechanical	1	12		10
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1		678
	2	Alexander Rossi	621
	3	Will Power	582
1	4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	566
1	5	Josef Newgarden	560

Manufacturer standings

	Pos	Manufacturer	Points
	1	Honda	1,467
	2	Chevrolet	1,203

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Notes and References

Web site: Sonoma IndyCar: Hunter-Reay grabs pole, O'Ward sensational fifth. Malsher. David. September 15, 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. September 16, 2018.
Web site: Sonoma IndyCar: Hunter-Reay dominates, Dixon clinches fifth title. Malsher. David. September 16, 2018. Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. September 16, 2018.