IndyCar veteran Helio Castroneves of Brazil was the last rookie to win the Indy 500 15 years ago.
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The special agent in charge of U.S. Secret Service at the Indianapolis office said enhanced measures would include a 20 percent bump in security personnel, more canine units, air surveillance and a no fly zone over the speedway during the race.
For Rossi, the win was a dream come true.
During that round of stops, Hinchcliffe’s team was unable to get his fuel hose in correctly, and the ensuing sluggish stop dropped him outside of the top 5. He had previously won the 2005 Indy 500 and his vehicle was one of the fastest throughout the 2011 race.
“People in race cars do a lot of dumb things and we were being careful”, Montoya said.
“The emotional rollercoaster of this race is ridiculous”.
“I’m just so thankful for doing this on the 100 running”, Rossi said. I need to see a psychiatrist after this one.
He quickly built a 16.7-second advantage over Munoz, and held on despite a final lap of 179 miles per hour. The Andretti Autosport braintrust was smart. He seemed devastated after his second runner-up finish in four years.
“The auto was really good and it felt okay”, Montoya said.
Although he’s a relief driver for Manor Racing in F1, Rossi has no scheduled F1 races and he described his role as a reserve driver: “I sit around and pretend to look important”.
“We were half a lap short on fuel, ” the disappointed Munoz said. “I will win this race one day”, he added.
Munoz has contended at Indy before and he’s proven to be fast at the speedway.
And now Rossi knows IndyCar is his top commitment.
Rossi understood full well that it was strategy that got him this win, and he knows what an Indy 500 victory means. It’s phenomenal. It will change my life, for sure.
Rossi, who returned to the United States this year after failing to nail down a 2016 seat in Formula 1, just made it to the finish line before running out of gas at the end of a race which had been dominated by fuel strategy.
Gaga gave Andretti and team owner Michael Andretti kisses on the cheek before the start of the race. “I’m just so happy for everyone on the team”.
But while Wheldon’s win was certainly a surprise, it wasn’t too hard to envision him in victory lane.
France’s Simon Pagenaud, who won the previous three IndyCar races – all on road courses – to seize the season points lead, finished 19.
Hunter-Reay had sensed the importance of this day long before it arrived. “I have no idea how we pulled that off”. “They played the fuel strategy”.
As the laps wound down, it clearly became a fuel mileage race and American Josef Newgarden and Munoz both swapped the lead repeatedly. Connors leaned over a rail Sunday with an American flag bearing his number 98 and the phrase “Oh, say can you Rossi” awaiting to congratulate him.
Defending race victor Juan Pablo Montoya crashed out on Lap 64, in a single-car incident.
I’m watching Stefan not because I think he can challenge for a win, but because he has more than just a sponsor to tote around, but a platform everyone can get behind. As it turns out, that’s her best finish in a 500, and the best finish of Coyne’s four drivers in the 100th renewal of the 500.
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In fourth place in the 100th running of the Indy 500 on Sunday was Brazil’s Tony Kanaan, who – along with Muñoz and countryman and three-time Indy 500 victor Helio Castroneves, who led for most of the contest – never stopped fighting for the lead. Bell went wide and into the side of Castroneves and then jumped left, pinning Hunter-Reay against the inside wall. James Hinchcliffe was the feel-good pole victor for the 500, a year after he almost died in a crash during a practice session the day after qualifying.
