Rossi stuns with win in 100th running of the Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Alexander Rossi wrote his name in the history books in the most amazing of ways, winning the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil

Running dangerously close to running out of fuel after streching his 18.5 gallons of ethanol for 36 laps, Rossi all but coasted the final lap but still crossed the finish line 4.4975 seconds ahead of teammate Carlos Munoz to win the historic running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” It was the first Verizon IndyCar Series victory for the rookie in his sixth race and he is the first rookie to win the Indianapolis 500 since Helio Castroneves in 2001.

Rossi, in the No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda, inherited the lead on the 197th of 200 laps on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval when Munoz stopped for a splash of fuel. The Californian slowed his pace dramatically his final four laps. His last lap averaged 179.784 mph, nearly 40 mph slowed than Munoz’s final circuit, but he still had enough momentum to take the checkered flag.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable,” team owner Michael Andretti said. “They did a great job with strategy.”

All the race leaders stopped for fuel and tires on Lap 164. One by one, they were forced to make late stops for splashes of fuel, including Munoz in the No. 26 United Fiber & Data Honda on Lap 196. Everyone waited for Rossi to follow suit, but the 25-year-old never did. He ran out of fuel on the cool-down lap and coasted to a stop in Turn 4.

“To get a 1-2 finish is great,” Andretti said. “We’re just so happy. It’s so awesome.”

Josef Newgarden finished third, followed by Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, JR Hildebrand, pole sitter James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon, Sebastian Bourdais and Will Power.

Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Simon Pagenaud saw his three-race winning streak come to an end, finishing 19th.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won the 2014 race, led the most laps (52), but finished a disappointing 24th after a number of problems, including a Lap 115 pit road incident when Townsend Bell bumped Helio Castroneves, spinning Bell into Hunter-Reay in the process.

Pagenaud’s teammate, defending Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya’s day ended early when he lost control of his No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and hit the wall exiting Turn 2 on Lap 64 in a single-car incident.

“The car felt good and then it just stepped out of nowhere,” Montoya said.

Montoya becomes the third defending champion to finish last the following year. The others were Jimmy Bryan in 1959 and Johnny Rutherford in 1977.

A number of drivers were involved in pit road incidents, including Will Power, Castroneves, Bell and Hunter-Reay.

Sage Karam, in a one-off deal for the 500, tried to get around Bell, only to hit the Turn 1 wall hard on Lap 94, ending Karam’s day.

“I’m more bummed than hurt,” Karam said. “It just seemed like I could run through anyone. I’m so disappointed.  Just wrong place at wrong time. Just wish I hadn’t of gone into Turn 1 like that.”

Source: INDYCAR.com

 

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:

Pos

SP

Car

Driver

C/E/T

Lap

Laps Down

Time Down

Pit Stops

Elapsed Time

Avg Speed

Pts

Running/Reason Out

1

11

98

Rossi, Alexander (R)

D/H/H/F

200

0

–.—-

8

03:00:02.0872

166.634

124

Running

2

5

26

Munoz, Carlos

D/H/H/F

200

0

4.4975

8

03:00:06.5847

166.565

115

Running

3

2

21

Newgarden, Josef

D/C/C/F

200

0

4.9304

8

03:00:07.0176

166.558

111

Running

4

18

10

Kanaan, Tony

D/C/C/F

200

0

10.4963

8

03:00:12.5835

166.473

81

Running

5

16

42

Kimball, Charlie

D/C/C/F

200

0

10.5218

9

03:00:12.6090

166.472

78

Running

6

15

6

Hildebrand, JR

D/C/C/F

200

0

11.3459

7

03:00:13.4331

166.460

76

Running

7

1

5

Hinchcliffe, James

D/H/H/F

200

0

12.7744

8

03:00:14.8616

166.438

95

Running

8

13

9

Dixon, Scott

D/C/C/F

200

0

15.1607

8

03:00:17.2479

166.401

69

Running

9

19

11

Bourdais, Sebastien

D/C/C/F

200

0

21.0613

9

03:00:23.1485

166.310

59

Running

10

6

12

Power, Will

D/C/C/F

200

0

21.5171

8

03:00:23.6043

166.303

73

Running

11

9

3

Castroneves, Helio

D/C/C/F

200

0

22.1015

9

03:00:24.1887

166.294

65

Running

12

10

77

Servia, Oriol

D/H/H/F

200

0

23.8140

9

03:00:25.9012

166.268

60

Running

13

14

27

Andretti, Marco

D/H/H/F

200

0

24.9700

9

03:00:27.0572

166.250

54

Running

14

26

15

Rahal, Graham

D/H/H/F

200

0

28.2494

9

03:00:30.3366

166.200

40

Running

15

22

8

Chilton, Max (R)

D/C/C/F

200

0

28.7589

10

03:00:30.8461

166.192

42

Running

16

31

41

Hawksworth, Jack

D/H/H/F

200

0

32.1748

9

03:00:34.2620

166.140

31

Running

17

33

35

Tagliani, Alex

D/H/H/F

200

0

32.1993

7

03:00:34.2865

166.139

28

Running

18

25

63

Mann, Pippa

D/H/H/F

199

1

8

03:00:08.8301

165.698

33

Running

19

8

22

Pagenaud, Simon

D/C/C/F

199

1

10

03:00:09.4050

165.689

50

Running

20

21

19

Chaves, Gabby

D/H/H/F

199

1

11

03:00:15.7404

165.592

33

Running

21

4

29

Bell, Townsend

D/H/H/F

199

1

11

03:00:15.7506

165.592

55

Running

22

27

61

Brabham, Matt (R)

D/C/C/F

199

1

8

03:00:16.5632

165.579

23

Running

23

28

88

Clauson, Bryan

D/H/H/F

198

2

10

03:00:09.1259

164.861

21

Running

24

3

28

Hunter-Reay, Ryan

D/H/H/F

198

2

8

03:00:53.4216

164.188

53

Running

25

29

16

Pigot, Spencer (R)

D/H/H/F

195

5

8

03:00:33.5314

161.997

15

Running

26

12

14

Sato, Takuma

D/H/H/F

163

37

6

02:32:07.8723

160.717

32

Contact

27

7

7

Aleshin, Mikhail

D/H/H/F

126

74

5

02:42:53.2029

116.032

40

Contact

28

30

25

Wilson, Stefan (R)

D/C/C/F

119

81

6

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