Paul Jeffrey
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The 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 lived up to all the pre race hype on Sunday with great racing, a prominent performance from Fernando Alonso, spectacular crashes and a first win for former Honda protégée Takuma Sato...
Heading into the big event several established IndyCar drivers were looking to stake their claim to the coveted Borg Warner trophy at Indy, however it was left to a surprise performance from the evergreen Japanese driver Takuma Sato to keep a level head when all around him seemed to loose theirs to pick his way through the on track excitement and come home victor in the 101st running of the Indy 500.
At 38 years of age Sato, driving the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda has taken the honour of becoming the first ever Japanese driver to claim victory in the Indy 500 following his spectacular pass on Helio Castroneves towards the dying stages of the race. Castroneves would go on to finish in runner up spot after a frantic duel between himself and Sato, plus seeing off the challenge of another former Grand Prix driver in the form of Max Chilton, who himself put in a strong performance on the way to fourth of the 19 running drivers at the end of the event.
Rounding out the podium places would be impressive rookie Ed Jones, going someway towards relieving the tension in the Dale Coyne garage following the injuries sustained to lead driver Sebastien Bourdais in an accident earlier in the week.
Sato himself was delighted to pick up the biggest trophy in American racing, making up for his several disappointing results in previous editions, not least of which was his late race retirement following a battle for the lead back in 2012:
“This time I was pointing in the right direction, wasn’t I?” Sato said. “It’s beautiful. I dreamed of something like this. I can’t thank everyone enough for their support.”
"Unbelievable feeling,” Sato said. “I cannot thank this whole team enough. Fantastic.
“It was obviously a tough, tough race. But Helio really drives fair. I can trust him. I can really trust him coming from the outside.”
"Unbelievable feeling,” Sato said. “I cannot thank this whole team enough. Fantastic.
“It was obviously a tough, tough race. But Helio really drives fair. I can trust him. I can really trust him coming from the outside.”
Sato wasn't the only driver with Formula One experience who impressed at 'the Brickyard' on Sunday, McLaren Honda driver and IndyCar debutant Fernando Alonso had an incredible month on May behind the wheel of the McLaren Honda Andretti Autosport car as he belied his lack of oval racing experience at Indy to perform brilliantly throughout the whole event. Always looking to be in the fight for the victory throughout the race, even going so far as to lead for 27 of the 200 laps of the race, Alonso would unfortunately find himself once again stepping away from a broken Honda engine when the orange #27 gave up the fight for life whilst running an impressive sixth position, just 20 laps from the chequered flag.
"I felt the noise and the engine friction so I backed off," said Alonso. "It's a shame because I felt we deserved to finish and experience the last lap - who knows where we could have finished."
As is often the case with high powered open wheelers running in such close proximity for long periods of time, the 101st Indy 500 featured several major accidents for many of the drivers, not least of which was the lap 53 shunt for pre race favourite Scott Dixon, who fortunately escaped major injury following his horrifying accident when his Chip Ganassi Racing car was flipped into the air and came down on its side on the infield wall.
Indy 500 Result
- Sato, Takuma - 155.395 - 137pts
- Castroneves, Helio - 155.393 - 96pts
- Jones, Ed - 155.388 - 93pts
- Chilton, Max - 155.380 - 86pts
- Kanaan, Tony - 155.373 - 91pts
- Montoya, Juan Pablo - 155.372 - 73pts
- Rossi, Alexander - 155.363 - 91pts
- Andretti, Marco - 155.361 - 76pts
- Chaves, Gabby - 155.344 - 53pts
- Munoz, Carlos- 155.335 - 50pts
- Carpenter, Ed - 155.333 - 79pts
- Rahal, Graham - 155.328 - 57pts
- Aleshin, Mikhail - 155.319 - 55pts
- Pagenaud, Simon -155.314 - 43pts
- Saavedra, Sebastian - 155.226 - 33pts
- Hildebrand, JR - 154.951 - 61pts
- Mann, Pippa - 154.444 - 32pts
- Pigot, Spencer - 150.302 - 29pts
- Newgarden, Josef - 144.180 - 34pts
DNF: Davison, James Contact
DNF: Servia, Oriol Contact
DNF: Hinchcliffe, James Contact
DNF: Alonso, Fernando Mechanical
DNF: Kimball, Charlie Mechanical
DNF: Veach, Zach Mechanical
DNF: Hunter-Reay, Ryan Mechanical
DNF: Karam, Sage Mechanical
DNF: Lazier, Buddy Contact
DNF: Daly, Conor Contact
DNF:Harvey, Jack Contact
DNF: Dixon, Scott Contact
DNF: Howard, Jay Contact
Race Highlights
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