Rossi won the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 auto race on Sunday.
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Alexander Rossi took the checkered flag at the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500.
It just wasnt the driver anyone expected.
He is the first driver to have won the race on his debut since 2001. Two days earlier, the 24-year-old Rossi became the first USA -born rookie since Louis Meyer in 1928 to win the Indianapolis 500 – the 100th, no less. But, that’s only half the story for Rossi, whose auto coughed as he took the white flag, and somehow managed to run on fumes for the final circuit, barely above walking pace as he came out of turn four for the final time, coaxing his #98 Honda for co-owners Michael Andretti and Bryan Herta across the line as a furious pack of gassed-up drivers, led by Carlos Muñoz and Josef Newgarden, chased him down.
While the rest of the leaders had to pit for fuel near the finish, Rossi and his team Andretti-Herta gambled, nearly coasting through the chequered flag with barely any fuel left in the vehicle. At 5 p.m. there’s an Indianapolis 500 Victory Celebration Red Carpet event at the JW Marriott. He sat in the vehicle for some time before climbing out to take that sweet sip of milk. Based on what we were doing, I kept talking Alex through.
“I didn’t have any preconceived notions I was going to win”, Rossi said afterward. “The emotional roller-coaster of this race is ridiculous. I was like, ‘Wow, I’ll need to see a psychiatrist after this'”. Rossi held off Carlos Munoz and Tony Kanaan late to get the win.
WHO’S HOT: Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Andretti Autosport.
For Munoz the bittersweet feeling of finishing second again was mitigated somewhat by his Andretti Autosport teammate ending up in the Winner’s Circle.
The race’s runner-up, Carlos Munoz was leading with three laps to go and said he thought his vehicle had enough fuel to win. “I was really disappointed to get second and be half a lap short”.
Munoz has contended at Indy before and he’s proven to be fast at the speedway. He was capable of going forward, but we kept holding him back.
He’s an IndyCar rookie who has chased a ride in Formula One his entire career.
That is what had made the past two decades frustrating for longtime followers of American open-wheel racing and those passionate about the 500.
Not only is it the first win for a rookie in the Indy 500 for 15 years it also marks an astonishing turnaround for Rossi, a talented victim of Formula One’s pay driver market. “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”. “It’s obviously a huge honor and privilege, something I’m going to carry with a great sense of responsibility”. “I don’t want it to”, Rossi told reporters. Herta was the winning vehicle owner in 2011 with Dan Wheldon, the actual 100th anniversary of the first race in 1911, and now can claim a win in the 100th actual race.
“I’ll get through it, I’m young enough”.
Instead, Marco Andretti never contended on a day at least three of his teammates were among the best in the field.
At the end of the pit lane on lap 117, three-time Indy 500 victor Castroneves’s vehicle was struck on the left side by that of United States driver Townsend Bell, whose auto bounced left and into compatriot Hunter-Reay, collecting three of the fastest cars to that point.
For much of the race it had appeared another driver in the Andretti stable, 2014 victor Ryan Hunter-Reay, was headed back to Victory Lane running up front most of the day. But a broken rear winglet made his vehicle a handful, and when the pits were delayed opening for an extra lap after the Sato incident, Rahal had to make an emergency stop for fuel only, then had to stop again.
Herta chose to gamble with Rossi on fuel strategy, and it’s the only thing that made him a late contender.
“Time has changed the racing but this place is still all about courage, innovation and passion”, Newgarden said.
Rossi noted that because IndyCar distributed twice the regular number of series points, he has climbed to sixth in the standings, 89 points behind leader Simon Pagenaud.
Alex Rossi will forever be known as the victor of the 100th Indianapolis 500.
“I can’t compare (the wins) other than to say I am so happy”, Herta said”.
Sometimes, it just takes a little while for a plan to come together. I don’t think anyone will ever figure out the Indy 500, and that’s why it’s such a special race for all of us. Are the domed skids going to ruin the race? – we came out with positive story lines like the massive sellout crowd, a new American hero, James Hinchcliffe coming back a year later and sticking his vehicle on the pole, and a really exciting, unpredictable race. In 2011, there were four females in the field, including Danica Patrick who logged the best finish of her gender, a third in one of her seven starts. “I hope I can just look ahead while I’m driving”. “Everyone was on different strategies, and they played that strategy”.
Helio Castroneves had a chance to join that 4-win club on Sunday which added some drama until he faded. Hopefully they stayed till the end.
Reports say Rossi’s windfall will now be in the millions, as he embarks on the customary whirlwind tour of media and publicity appearances as Indy 500 champion.
He was in Monaco this time a year ago for F1’s signature race, unsure of what his future held.
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“The only thing I’m clear about that I want to win this race one day”.
