Pagenaud takes third IndyCar win in a row

French pole sitter Simon Pagenaud won his third consecutive IndyCar race Saturday, dominating the Grand Prix of Indianapolis to win by 4.475 seconds and extend his season points lead.

Pagenaud, a winner last month at Long Beach and Alabama, surged ahead in the last 20 of 82 laps after taking the lead on a pit stop exchange at the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

"It feels nice, three in a row," Pagenaud said. "These days in Indycar, to have such domination is incredible. This car is magical."

Not since Australia's Will Power won the last two races of the 2013 season and the 2014 opener had an IndyCar driver taken three victories in a row.

Pagenaud, who turns 32 Wednesday, captured his seventh career IndyCar triumph with Brazil's Helio Castroneves second and Canada's James Hinchcliffe third.

Pagenaud, a runner-up in the season openers at St. Petersburg and Phoenix, became only the fourth IndyCar driver with top-two efforts in the first five races of a season, the first non-US racer to achieve the feat.

Stretching what had been a 48-point season points lead, the Frenchman established himself as a clear favorite for May 29th's 100th Indianapolis 500, the sixth of 16 IndyCar season races.

Drivers now must adjust to Indy's famed 2 1/2-mile oval course in practice for next Saturday's start of qualifying.

Pagenaud led early but Castroneves and US rookie Conor Daly refueled just before a crash, fortunate timing moving them to the front of the field ahead of Pagenaud.

A lap-46 restart saw Daly pass Castroneves in turn one for the lead, but patient Pagenaud refueled in only 6.9 seconds on his final stop and returned to track back in front with 20 laps remaining.

"I went faster than any other lap on the in-lap," Pagenaud said. "I knew it was going to be the chance to get back in the lead. I drove into the pit lane like a rally car. The crew did a great job on that last stop and it all worked out."

Pagenaud also won the 2014 inaugural Indy road race with Power taking last year's title.