BALTIMORE, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Simon Pagenaud evaded a series of wrecks littering the race course Sunday and emerged with a 4.2-second victory at the Grand Prix of Baltimore.
Pagenaud claimed his second career IndyCar title, negotiating his way through six cautions in a street circuit event in downtown Baltimore that saw nearly all of the 24 drivers sustain some kind of damage to their cars.
The Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports driver grabbed the lead from Marco Andretti on the 69th lap and went on to outpace Josef Newgarden to the finish line.
The Frenchman's only other win came in Detroit three months ago. He used the victory to claim third place in the championship standings with three races left, 70 points behind leader Helio Castroneves, who finished ninth Sunday.
Pole-sitter Scott Dixon, second in the points race 49 behind Castroneves, ended 19th after being bumped into the wall by Will Power.
Sebastien Bourdais, Justin Wilson and Simona De Silvestro rounded out Sunday's Top 5.
