Many who do not know Rossi soon will, with the 24-year-old American set to be jetted around the United States on a whirlwind post-500 media junket that will include dozens of appearances on early morning and late night talk shows.
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Rossi, who spent part of past year racing in Formula 1 with Manor, says he’s flabbergasted by the achievement considering he hadn’t even lined up an entry into IndyCar and Indy 500 three months ago.
Manor F1 reserve driver Alexander Rossi claimed an unlikely victory in the 100th edition of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
He went four laps longer on one tank of gas than any other driver did the entire race, and asked Monday how he pulled it off he simply said “skill”, with a wry smile.
“I really was focused on taking it one lap at a time”, Rossi said.
“I don’t know what to say”, said Michael Andretti, like he hasn’t been struck dumb here before. Fellow teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race in 2014.
“We’ve always thought as the 100th running here as an opportunity to continue to build the whole of the series”, said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman Company which owns and operates the Speedway. The American is the first rookie to win since Helio Castroneves and the first American-born rookie to win since Louis Meyer in 1928.
“To be honest, I was going to wing it at the end”, he explained.
An unprecedented sellout crowd of more than 350,000 people watched the 33-car field.
Though his pit stop cost him the lead, Honda driver Carlos Muñoz still managed a second-place finish.
Rossi started 11th in the field and led the race from laps 121 to 138, when he stopped for tires and fuel, and made his final stop on Lap 164.
For the second time in his brief career at Indianapolis, Munoz came home second, this time followed by Newgarden, Kanaan and Charlie Kimball.
IndyCar series rookie Rossi won the fabled race after a bold tactical move to forgo refuelling to save time and in this individualist sport relied on help from his Andretti Autosport team mates to make it to the finish. He’d never driven a auto on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval before his rookie orientation program May 16, and his first oval race was in April at one-mile Phoenix International Raceway. But give Rossi and his Andretti Racing team a lot of credit for swinging for the fences.
The pre-race ceremony, which featured “God Bless America”, “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Back Home Again in IN”, was spine-tingling when Taps was played and 350,000 stood in silence.
Hinchcliffe, the polesitter who missed this race past year after a near-fatal accident in a practice session, faded to seventh despite being one of the best cars in the field.
He wants to win an IndyCar championship, he said.
Rossi began in 33rd place, and had picked his way to around 6th place in the last 10 laps of the race, following about 10-seconds behind the leader, Joseph Newgarden.
Herta chose to gamble with Rossi on fuel strategy, and it’s the only thing that made him a late contender.
His win was the second for Herta as a auto owner at Indy. “They played the fuel strategy”. “I’m just so happy for everyone on the team”. They didn’t have as strong a chance to win, so they had to mix it up. He was in Monaco this time previous year for F1’s signature race, unsure of what his future held. Hopefully they stayed till the end.
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He will now also become the 103rd face on the famed Borg-Warner Trophy.
