The 109th Indy500 race, the first Spaniard, and the first oval win for one of the sports modern day greats. A race with all the drama, crashes and unforgettable moments that have become synonymous with the fabled oval. Drivers crashing before the green, a rookie on pole and a win for a man who has the Indycar world at his feet.
The storm before the storm
Robert Schwarzman made history as the first rookie in over forty years to start on pole for the Indy500, but was hoping for better luck than Teo Fabi, the last rookie polesitter, who didn’t see the chequered flag in 1983.
With the threat of rain circling around, the start was delayed but the action was not with both Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon finding themselves in peril. The Kiwi losing control on the pit straight and finding the pit wall suddenly in front of him, the veteran Dixon had a brake fire on the rear left.
Once the green flag flew, Schwarzman got a good launch holding the favouite O’Ward and F1 alumnus and two-time winner Takuma Sato at bay for the first corner, before Marco Andretti brought out the caution flag as quickly as the green went away.
The second launch was not as good for the rookie pole-sitter, as the Prema driver fell from first to fourth, leaving O’Ward and Sato to set the pace before the latter decided to stretch his legs at the front.
It wasn’t long before the caution flag flew again, with the slippery surface flag surfaced and inspired a wave of pits from the majority of the field, with a flurry of near-misses in pit row.
Scott Dixon amazingly re-joined the race only losing three laps to the rest of the field. Alexander Rossi led the field to green before second year driver Christian Rasmussen took over.
A relative lull in the action as the non-stopping drivers lead the field until their respective stops, the ageless Sato returned to the summit, leading Conor Daly who capitalised in the pit stops gaining six places.
Lap 60 saw the second round of scheduled stops, lead by Daly, with the rest of the field following a lap later. Sato held his lead but faced continuous and relentless pressure from David Malukas for lap after lap.
Burning fuel in and out of the car
Championship leader Alex Palou could be seen stalking the top few, managing to find himself in fifth place, within a few seconds of the front. Rossi in the Ed Carpenter entry developed a fault. With smoke starting to leak from the back, covering Palou in fuel and oil from the back of his car.
Rossi brought the car to pit row before a fire bellowed out at the back for car ending his race early. The frustration all over the body language of the 2016 Indy500 winner as he fired his gloves into his technical area shaking his head in anger.
Rinus Veekay lost control of his car on the way into the pits, seeing the Dutchman obliterate the rear right quarter of the car bringing his time in the 109th Indy500 race to an end.
The next round of stops brought the first mistake from Sato, as he overshot his pit box, costing him valuable time, but his mistake overshadowed by the polesitter Schwarzman, who ended his race after colliding with the pit wall and pit crew.
In the midst of the chaos, Palou took over at the front of the pitted cars, and Newgarden appearing out of nowhere to be in ninth on the same strategy as the Spaniard.
Cautions breed cautions
Racing resumed on lap 92 with Ryan Hunter-Reay leading the field to green for the short amount of time before the next caution. Two corners. Palou got caught up in traffic, dropping him down behind spirited Malukas and the Indiana native Daly while the chaos unfolded behind.
Kiffen Simpson, Kyle Larson and Sting Ray Robb found themselves in almighty shunt on turn two. Larson losing control on a downshift and tagging Simpson and sending both into the wall. Robb in avoiding the crash broke a toe link and firing himself into the inside wall.
Larson was attempting the double with the NASCAR star competing in both the Indy500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina later in the day.
Halfway hopes and dreams & Daly’s Day?
At the midway point, 8/33 of the field had become spectators and alongside the thousands in attendance and millions watching around the world.
The caution finally was lifting on lap 109 with Devlin DeFrancesco leading the field and Daly showing his confidence as he took advantage of the carnage taking second place.
Daly soon took the overall lead on lap a few laps later met with an almighty roar from the crowd ahead of Malukas and Palou.
The penultimate stops started with 65 to go, a stretch to reach the flag with one more stop, as the strategies converge with the leading pack swapping positions at will.
Newgarden found himself with a similar fate to his teammate McLaughlin as the Penske car developing a fuel issue costing him the chance at three consecutive wins.
Fuel save for fifty to finish
Hunter-Reay managed the field from the front still running the alternative strategy on four stops. Daly, Malukas and Palou using the tow as they fuel save to their final stops.
Daly struggled with fuel saving as he plummeted down the order until his stop, but his chance at the gold had seemingly ended
Hunter-Reay, leading the field had peril strike in his final stop, stalling as he left his box. The pressure proving too much for the 23 car and the leaders became fewer.
Marcus Ericsson found himself in the lead with 25 to go, leading Palou, Malukas and O’Ward as the quartet battled to the end.
The field became at one, happy to follow Ericsson until the moment where Palou pounced aggressively with 14 to go.
The Standoff
The tension built as the laps ticked down, fuel no longer a problem but tyres were becoming one. One by one the laps were completed with no movement from the leading pack.
Palou led them onto the final lap, Ericsson was close but the unflappable Palou would not be denied. The championship leader, the defending champion and now the 109th Indy500 Race winner.
The first Spaniard to ever win the race looked ready to pass out as leapt from his car to celebrate. He jumped into the arms of his team and family alike, before tasting the famous milk on the podium and collecting his winners ring.
109th Indy500 Race Feature Image Credits: Penske Entertainment: Paul Hurley