“I can’t put it in words”, Michael Andretti said as Marco’s vehicle was being pulled onto the starting grid. It’s something unlike I’ve ever experienced.
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As team co-owner and race strategist Bryan Herta asked Rossi to keep saving fuel and told him he led by half a lap, Rossi’s final lap was 179.784 miles per hour – more than 40 miles per hour off of the normal pace and a speed that would have been considered slow at the 21/2-mile Brickyard well before he was born in 1991.
Kanaan, Newgarden and Munoz kept swapping the lead in the final handful of laps before they all stopped for fuel.
Dean Stoneman nipped Ed Jones in a photo finish to win the Freedom 100, a race at Indianapolis in IndyCar’s second-tier Indy Lights Series.
Carlos Munoz took second, after stopping for fuel with four laps left allowing Rossi to take the No. 1 spot. “I just can’t believe that we’ve done this”. Justin had driven for Andretti Autosport previous year in a auto that essentially became Rossi’s ride. Dan Wheldon used the 98 to win in 2011, the 100th anniversary race, and was used again this year as the Agajanian family once again was a partial sponsor.
An easy pick to me as a driver to watch out for.
“I don’t know what to say”, said Michael Andretti, like he hasn’t been struck dumb here before.
Simon Pagenaud enters the race first in the standings with three wins in 2016. “You’re darn right he was”, Mario Andretti said.
Marco starts 14th in his 11th career start that has an impressive four top-5 finishes, including one of the greatest finishes in Indy 500 history when Sam Hornish beat Marco to the line in 2006.
“It was the best it has been”, Hinchcliffe said of his auto. Fuel mileage became critical. Turning into Turn 1 is impossible to describe to somebody in words because it changes every race, every lap.
Hinchliffe’s story is made all the more sensational by the fact that he will start Sunday at the front of the Indianapolis 500’s 33-car grid.
The late Graham Hill, Formula One champion in 1962 and 1968, won Indianapolis 50 years ago while fellow Brit Clark, also a double world champion, won in 1965. The previous American victor was Sam Hornish Jr.in 2006.
Indy 500 is all about tradition.
For Rossi an F1 career had been his focus until the 24-year-old American found himself without a seat when Indonesian Rio Haryanto’s backers offered the struggling outfit more money. It confirms his talent as world-class. According to OddsShark, he shares that distinction with Will Power and last year’s victor Juan Pablo Montoya.
Rossi was asked in a media conference if he still had his eye F1 on Thursday. “I had no idea I would be in the IndyCar Series let alone the Indy 500, and now I’m here and I’ve won the Indy 500”.
But winning Indy and the possibility of the financial rewards it will bring may entice him to stay with a top-level team in IndyCar rather than a mid-pack or lower team in F1. Despite all the gains made by NASCAR nationally and Formula One internationally, the Indy 500 remains the most significant single event in racing.
Castroneves looked like a strong contender to get a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 win but a piece of bodywork behind the left-rear wheel started flapping in the wind and acting like a parachute on his vehicle.
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“I am humbled to experience this atmosphere today at this place that is packed”, said Kanaan, adding he also drove “the best race of my life”.
