Alonso Shines, Sato Wins and Dixon Flies at the Indy 500

Paul Jeffrey

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Indy 500.jpg

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.”

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
  1. Sato, Takuma - 155.395 - 137pts
  2. Castroneves, Helio - 155.393 - 96pts
  3. Jones, Ed - 155.388 - 93pts
  4. Chilton, Max - 155.380 - 86pts
  5. Kanaan, Tony - 155.373 - 91pts
  6. Montoya, Juan Pablo - 155.372 - 73pts
  7. Rossi, Alexander - 155.363 - 91pts
  8. Andretti, Marco - 155.361 - 76pts
  9. Chaves, Gabby - 155.344 - 53pts
  10. Munoz, Carlos- 155.335 - 50pts
  11. Carpenter, Ed - 155.333 - 79pts
  12. Rahal, Graham - 155.328 - 57pts
  13. Aleshin, Mikhail - 155.319 - 55pts
  14. Pagenaud, Simon -155.314 - 43pts
  15. Saavedra, Sebastian - 155.226 - 33pts
  16. Hildebrand, JR - 154.951 - 61pts
  17. Mann, Pippa - 154.444 - 32pts
  18. Pigot, Spencer - 150.302 - 29pts
  19. 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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Did you enjoy the Indy 500? Who was your driver of the day? Impressed with Alonso? Let us know in the comments section below!
 
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I really enjoyed the 500 although I was distressed with the number of cars that got caught up in accidents. Seeing Scott Dixon's wreck made me appreciate how far track and car safety has come. I was very impressed with Alonso, but also James Davison and Ed Jones. I was delighted to see Takuma win. He has always been something of a wild man, but this time he showed maturity and patience when he needed to.
 
https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/indy500/history/indy-500-traditions-faqs/traditions

Drinking of the Milk

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk to refresh himself on a hot day and happened to drink some in Victory Lane as a matter of habit after winning the 1936 race. An executive with what was then the Milk Foundation was so elated when he saw the moment captured in a photograph in the sports section of his newspaper the following morning that he vowed to make sure it would be repeated in coming years. There was a period between 1947-55 when milk was apparently no longer offered, but the practice was revived in 1956 and has been a tradition ever since.
 
I really enjoyed the 500 although I was distressed with the number of cars that got caught up in accidents. Seeing Scott Dixon's wreck made me appreciate how far track and car safety has come.

well, yes, the car safety is insane and a few years back this incident would have had a more dramatic outcome very likely.. but if the car had turned just slightly further he hit his head on the barrier, instead of the sidepod, and i am confident it would be a fatal crash then.
I was first shocked and than stunned to see Dixon left the car as if nothing happened and also gave an interview only minutes after it.
 

Lorenzo Bonder

Wah wah.
What is it with this "Alonso" thing??.Ed Jones finished 3rd on his DEBUT,Chilton fin 4th,all the emphisis goes on Alonso dont get it..
Simple, because Alonso is a world star f1 driver like Charmin said + he was the "biggest shot" in Motorsport to be able to achieve what Graham Hill did in the past, which is win the Triple Crown of Motorsport, which is win the Monaco GP or the F1 Championship, the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Shame that the Honda engine jinx continues. BUT IN THE END, IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER (I'm actually serious here):

(Wanted Helio to win in the end because of the 4 win record)

TAKUMA-SAN REIGNS SUPREME!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ALL HAIL THE NIPPON SATO-SAN, THE ALMIGHTY FORCE OF JAPAN!

 
jenson Button's ex-team mate wins the Indy 500! But no, sorry, not that one.

I read a preview somewhere stating that Honda engines in Indy were competitive and reliable. Looks like it wasn't just the colour scheme Alonso took over the Atlantic with him.
 
Yeah I'll admit I only watched because alonso was racing in it, now that I've seen the Indy 500 I'll be sure to watch best year!
I was really impressed with Alonso's performance and was absolutely gutted for him when his Honda blew... I immediately switched to supporting max after that but happy with Sato winning.
 

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