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The 102nd Indianapolis has been run and won, and it was a historic day for Australia amidst high drama in front of more than 300,000 spectators at the Brickyard.
Here’s all you need to know about a day that will long be remembered by Australian motorsports enthusiasts!
Will Power wins
Finally, it’s happened: an Australian has won the Indianapolis 500. On Sunday afternoon in near-record temperatures, the pride of Toowoomba, Will Power, took the twin checkers, crossed the yard of bricks and drove into victory lane where he promptly doused himself in milk and stood alongside the fabled Borg Warner Trophy.
And not before time, either. In fact, it was getting to the point where Power, in his eleventh start at the Brickyard, was starting to be mentioned in that dreaded list of the greatest IndyCar drivers never to win at Indianapolis. Perpetually fast at the Brickyard, and in great equipment, he’s come close before, only to be tripped up by the final hurdle.
Even in victory, things didn’t come easily. Although Power dominated the second half of the race on Sunday, with five laps to go, he was in third, only retaking the lead when Jack Harvey and Stefan Wilson, at the front courtesy of an alternate fuel strategy and on fading tyres, peeled off into the pit lane for fuel.
With only one backmarker to negotiate from there, Power wasn’t headed, though those final three circuits of the 2.5-mile superspeedway seemed to take an eternity. I haven’t been so nervous in a long time, so I can only imagine how Power, his family and team felt!
You don’t race with Will Power. You strap yourself in and feel the Gs. (SarahStierch / Wikimedia Commons)
Power’s win was the 17th for car owner Roger Penske, the first from a front-row starter since Scotland’s Dario Franchitti in 2010, and the first for a Chevrolet-powered team since Juan Pablo Montoya also won for Team Penske in 2015.
The Indianapolis 500 is a double-points races. Effectively, Will Power has won two IndyCar Series races today, which sees him lead the championship by two markers from Alexander Rossi, who finished fourth in the 500.
Power also becomes the first driver to win the road course Grand Prix and the oval-track Indianapolis 500 in the same year. And, just quietly, he’s secured himself a rare place in our country’s sporting history. I, for one, won’t forget this year’s running of the 500 anytime soon. Congratulations, Will!
2017 podium finishers all crash in 2018
If you finished on the podium in the 101st Indianapolis 500, the race one year later wasn’t particularly kind. First reigning champion Takuma Sato was caught up in an accident, tangling with Australia’s James Davison.
Eleven laps later Ed Jones (third last year for Dale Coyne Racing) hit the wall in turn four, and two caution flags later, Helio Castroneves, going for his fourth Indianapolis victory after a runner-up effort last year, was also in trouble off the last turn, hitting the wall at pit entry.
Danica crashes
In her final scheduled race start, Danica Patrick never got higher than seventh place before crashing in turn two, closing the book on a remarkable and polarising career, her bright green GoDaddy-sponsored Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet crumpled on contact with the turn two wall, one of many accomplished drivers to lose the back end of their car in that fashion this year.
Career-best finish for Ed Carpenter
The local boy who stormed to pole last weekend probably won’t be particularly happy with a second-place finish after dominating the first half of the event, but it remains a personal best finish and when the dust settles Carpenter, a tick over three seconds back, will look back and be pretty proud. After all, it’s the highest finish for an owner/driver in many years.
The gates of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Indianapolis 500 is raced (Christopher Ziemnowicz/Wikimedia Commons)
Passing wasn’t easy
Maybe we’ve been spoilt by six years of races where drivers were passing back and forth seemingly at will, the new iteration of IndyCar made it a lot tougher. So, on every restart – there were seven caution flags between laps 48 and 192 – we saw absolutely insane racing as drivers tried to get everything they could before the pack, in near-record temperatures, were strung out again.
For the most part, in the last few years being the guy in front on a restart meant you were a sitting duck, but it seemed to be the opposite this year. On the rare occasion that the leader was overtaken, they were able to get the lead back. And, as hadn’t been the case over the last six years, cars were able to get away at the front.
My guess is that the IndyCar technical folks will take a look at the oval track package and make a few minor tweaks to bring back a little more of the passing we’ve got used to in recent years.
Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi impress
Dixon, the Ice Man from New Zealand via Queensland has always been a master at saving fuel, but Sunday’s final stint might be his crowning achievement. He last pitted on lap 161 of the 200-lap race, riding some yellow flags and an incredible ability to conserve, to a third-place finish.
For a little while there, it looked like Dixon might’ve fuel-saved his way to a remarkable victory.
Speaking of remarkable: Rossi was exactly that all race. He rose from his thirty-second starting position to finish fourth courtesy of some good strategy and some epic passing manoeuvres that’ll be on Indianapolis 500 highlight reels for years to come, to finish fourth. Rossi’s good day sees him trail Will Power in the series standings by just two.
The IndyCar Series rolls on
No rest for the wicked as the cars and stars of the IndyCar Series gears up for the summer stretch across America and Canada. It all begins next weekend on a track completely different to Indianapolis: the bumpy the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit, with a Saturday/Sunday double-header, before stops in Toronto, Iowa, Portland and St Louis, among others.
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