Wheldon gets second straight Kansas win

There was no magic for Danica Patrick this time, with Dan Wheldon holding off Tony Kanaan on Sunday to win his second straight IRL IndyCar Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Patrick, who last week became the first woman to win an IndyCar race, never got into contention in the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 and wound up on the sideline with a broken wheel hub.

It was the 14th career victory for Wheldon, a former series champion, but the first time he has taken a checkered flag since winning on the 1.5-mile Kansas track a year ago.

“It has been a little frustrating at times and to get the (No.) 10 car back to Victory Lane just shows that we could be back and we certainly mean a lot of business,” the Englishman said. “It was a real strong day.”

Next up is the Indianapolis 500, a race Wheldon won in 2005 and that he still holds in great esteem.

“I haven’t really worried about that so much this year because it’s been so competitive you need to concentrate on each individual race at a time,” Wheldon said. “But it’s going to be an incredibly competitive Indianapolis 500. I expect both Target cars to be up front. It’s certainly very, very tight out there.”

This race appeared to belong to Scott Dixon, Wheldon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, who led 145 of the first 152 laps. But the New Zealander, who won the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, ran into bad luck when he made his final pit stop just seconds before Buddy Rice crashed, bringing out a caution flag that allowed all the other leaders to pit under yellow.

Wheldon inherited the lead when Dixon pitted and stayed there the rest of the way.

Formula One

Kimi Raikkonen has won the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, Spain, for a second straight weekend win for Ferrari.

Raikkonen won his 17th Formula One race after starting from pole position. Teammate Felipe Massa, who was coming off a win at Bahrain, finished second.

Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was third. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen was taken to hospital after a high-speed crash. The Finn was in stable condition.

Raikkonen, the defending world champion who won here in 2005, leads the overall standings with 29 points, nine more than Hamilton.