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| Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud looks skyward, with an empty milk bottle in each hand, as he completes a sweep of the NTT IndyCar Series (NICS) activity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the "Month-Of-May." After having a lackluster year without wins in all of 2018, and having a dismal start through the first four races in 2019, Simon re-establishes his rightful place in the list of top accomplished drivers in the NICS. He did this by qualifying with a NTT P1 Pole Award followed by a victory in the IMS road course event the INDYCAR Grand Prix, then capturing the NTT P1 Pole Award followed by a victory in the IMS oval race known as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" - 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. He started May at P11 in the driver championship points standings, and ended May by leading in the 2019 championship points race by one point over teammate Josef Newgarden. Image Credit: Tristan Vautier (2019) |
Not So 'Simple Simon' Throws A 'Simon Says' Curve Into The Finale Of The 103rd INDY500
This edition of the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge did not succumb to the dire predictions (as high as an 80% chance) of a rain influenced contest. The INDY500 did not come down to a precisely managed fuel consumption strategy session, thanks to accident miscues on the track late in the race, much to the chagrin of Spencer Pigot and Scott Dixon, as well as the joy who were beginning to reel in the leaders if this test continued its long Green Flag stints.
No, this sixth race of a seventeen race NTT IndyCar Series season came down to an ample number of laps at the end to provide a real racers shootout which ended up in a ratings increase win with an online survey result at IndyCar.com insta-poll in the very high 9's on a 10 point scale.
Simply stated, Simon Pagenaud was able to cap off a Month-Of-May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that only one other competitor dreamed of and completed - the 2018 season of Team Penske teammate Will Power.
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| Front straightaway opening ceremonies included a very patriotic display with all of the trappings - Troops standing at attention, a couple of flyovers, the National Anthem sung by Kelly Clarkson, and the President of the Hulman & Company, Tony George announcing the call to start engines. Image Credit: Jason Porter via NICS (2019) |
The following race notation was performed in real time using audio to text from cellphone into an email message. Images folded in are from the ample staff at IndyCar.com with a potential contribution from Social Media timelines.
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| Matt Damon and Christian Bale (L to R). Image Credit: Walter Khun via NICS (2019) |
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN from Matt - GREEN, GREEN, GREEN from Christian ...
Matt Damon and Christian Bale as honorary flag starters of the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge get this party started as the 10 rows of 33 cars come to the yard of bricks Start/Finish line. This marks the first time NBC has ever broadcast the INDY500 in it's 103 years of running "The Greatest Spectacle Of Racing."
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| Right at the drop of the Green Flags from Damon and Bale, the Honda and Chevrolet powered Dallara IndyCars begin to track at 220mph average laps for 500 miles in "The Greatest Spectacle Of Racing." Image Credit: Jason Porter via NICS (2019) |
First lap is in the books without incident and Ed Carpenter is pushing Simon Pagenaud - Will Power gets a tremendous start and ends up at P3 - up from his second row outside P6 position. The racing between Will Power, Spencer Pigot and Josef Newgarden in these opening laps is superb - just excellent.
Lap 5 Colton Herta is coming into the pits and he's coming in slowly. It looks like an electronic problem.
Colton Herta did not make it all the way back into the pits so FCY - Full Course Yellow to tow the car into the pits on Lap 6.
Top 10 on restart will be Pagenaud, Carpenter, Power, Pigot, Newgarden, Jones, Bourdais, Rossi, Daly, and Castroneves.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Lap 11
Marco Andretti Sage Karam and Felix Rosenqvist are first to pit.
Colton Herta out - DNF
Lap 20 of 200 - Top 10 are Pagenaud, Power, Carpenter, Pigot, Newgarden, Rossi, Bourdais , Jones, Davidson, & Daly.
29 laps in and already 100 passes for position on track. No passes for lead, however.
Pagenaud and other leaders begin pit stops at lap 34. Will Power assumes lead for two laps. The rest of the field will soon follow.
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| Marco Andretti, U.S. Concrete and Andretti Autosport showed of the No. 98 U.S. Concrete / Curb machine that the third-generation driver piloted during the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500. The day-glow red car closely resembles the 1969 race-winning livery of Mario Andretti, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his memorable Indianapolis 500 victory. Sadly, Marco finished the race as the last car running at the end - P26 - five laps behind the leader. Image Credit: Mike Harding via NICS (2019) |
Marco Andretti comes in for second Pitstop - already.
Davidson comes into pits and enters pit sideways. Castroneves messes up on his Pit Stop by rear-ending Davidson and damages front wing.
Sato doing back-to-back pit stops because of a messed up tire installation.
Castroneves is penalized a drive-through penalty for tapping the back end of Davidson's car.
50 laps in the books - 125 miles of 500. Top 10 are Pagenaud, Power, Carpenter, Newgarden, Rossi, Bourdais, Pigot, Jones, Daly, & Erickson.
Lap 56 Ben Hanley comes in coasting. Tire change and mechanical issue discovered. Drive shaft disconnected.
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| Dale Coyne Racing's American Santino Ferrucci gained INDY500 Rookie Of The Year by being the hard charger through starting at P23 and finishing in the Top 10 at P7. In the post race press conference, Ferrucci said, "I got to battle it out almost the entire race with Hunter-Reay, who's a champion here, and I can't thank him enough because the experience that you get racing someone like that and the enjoyment and excitement of racing around other competitors like him, it was just a blast." Image Credit: Joe Skibinski via NICS (2019) |
Lap 60 Rookie Santino Ferrucci started at P23 and is now up to P14.
Lap 65 and race leader Pagenaud is coming in for his second Pit Stop. Other leader pit stops to follow.
Power squirrely coming into pit box - taps Fueler with left rear of car.
The Chevy-powered Indy cars may be fast but they are pitting a little earlier than the Honda-powered cars.
Alexander Rossi squirrely coming to the blend line into pit stop - coming in a little fast.
Scott Dixon is last of top drivers to pit. He went 37 Laps on his first Pit Stop stent it is now Lap 73 and he comes in.
Lap 74 - Full Course Yellow brought on by Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing.
Big impact on pit lane because a car comes in sideways hitting tires by Jordan King.
Before FCY, Will Power did not do well in Pitstop exchanges coming in from P2 and entering to the field P6. Power is penalized for hitting crew member in pit box with slide, penalized to the back of the field.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Lap 79. Top 10 our Pagenaud, Carpenter, Newgarden, Rossi, Bourdais, Piggott, Dixon, Erickson, Daly, & Rahal.
Will Power, after penalty, now settles in at P21. Speaks on radio, to the pits, saying that his day may be over.
Lap 90 has Ed Carpenter at P2 taking advantage of Simon Pagenaud cutting a hole in the air.
Halfway point Lap100 - Simon Pagenaud pits from the lead leaving Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Sebastian Bourdais, Conor Daly, Simon Pigot, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Graham Rahal, & Santino Ferrucci behind.
Those pitting at the end of sequence are Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon. Lap 112 Dixon comes into pits.
Things are getting racy as Felix Rosenqvist pits. Alexander Rossi is now at P2 challenging Simon Pagenaud for the lead.
Lap 125 of 200 - Simon Pagenaud, Alexander Rossi, Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais, Conor Daly, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci, & Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Lap 131 - Simon Pagenaud comes in to pits.
Marcus Ericsson spins in Pit Road and there's a problem with Alexander Rossi with the Buckeye fueling nozzle - it's not going in cleanly - super delay on pit stop for a Rossi of 23 seconds.
Full Course Yellow Lap 139? - Marcus Ericsson spins as he comes into the pits and hits the wall. This Yellow may mess up Scott Dixon's race, he has not pitted yet.
Dixon, Rosenqvist, and Ferrucci come into the pits after achieving good pit strategy with fuel mileage.
19 cars on the lead lap and Alexander Rossi gets clobbered with a terrible Pit Stop placing him at P6.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Lap 149 - top 10 are Simon Pagenaud, Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais, Alexander Rossi (up to five), Conor Daly, Ryan Hunter Reay, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal, and Scott Dixon.
Incredible action all around Alexander Rossi he was passed by many cars & he passed many cars back - one of them in the mix is lap down Oriol Servia.
2019 Championship points leader Josef Newgarden passes Simon Pagenaud for the lead on lap 151. First time Simon Pagenaud has been passed on-the-track for the lead all race.
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| For those who identify themselves as charter members of the "Short Attention Span Theater" ... the rave environment of the Snake Pit may be the best place to pass the time of a 500 mile race once the first GREEN Flag flies until the last laps before the CHECKERED Flag and the milk shower in Victory Lane takes place. Image Credit: Stephen King via NICS (2019) |
Conor Daly Lap 156 moves up to P4 as the action behind him with Rossi and Oriol Servia gets crazy.
Racing becomes a little more stable but they are all tracking within a half a second of each other in the top five or six places.
Rossi is driving like a man possessed - he just now passed Conor Daly for P4.
With Josef Newgarden leading, Simon Pagenaud is able to save fuel for the first time in this race.
Simon Pagenaud comes into the pits at lap 169.
Lap 173 Pagenaud reassumes the lead in Pit Stop sequences.
The top Racers who have pitted are now nose-to-tail on Lap 177 with Pagenaud, Rossi, Carpenter, Newgarden, Bourdais, & Rahal all running together.
Big crash on Lap 178 YELLOW Flag - Crash caused when Sebastian Bourdais came down on Graham Rahal as he was attempting a pass going into Turn 3 - Rahal's right-front wheel touched Bourdais' left-rear wheel - Rahal had a bent right suspension arm, Bourdais was sent spinning - collected cars as they drove into crash.
Zach Veach and Felix Rosenqvist are also taken out. Santino Ferrucci slides pass the accidents by cutting left through the grass onto the inner circular pit-in/pit-out lane (designed by Rick Mears), misses all of the collected traffic, and gains positions.
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| Image Credit: Walter Khun via NICS (2019) |
Race is under RED Flag stop - all cars to pit lane (no work allowed) in order to clean up the track.
Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal, Sebastien Bourdais, Charlie Kimball, & Zach Veach all out. Scott Dixon gets through but has front wing damage and continues further back in the grid after service.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Lap 189 of 200 -
This excerpted and edited from IndyCar.com -
Engines have re-fired and the Indianapolis 500 has resumed after a RED FLAG delay of 18 minutes.
Lap 181: Leader 21-Pigot enters closed pit for fuel only. LEAD CHANGE (26): New leader is 27-Rossi.
Lap 182: Pits are open. 21-Pigot, 9-Dixon and 5-Hinchcliffe on pit road for four tires and fuel. 9-Dixon also made repairs for damage sustained in the Lap 178 incident.
Race Control: These cars need to drive through pit lane, as they are lapped cars: 24, 60, 77, 48, 3, 7, 42, 23, 98.
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN - Lap 187 of 200 - 27-Rossi leads the field out of Turn 4 to start-finish. 22-Pagenaud makes pass for the lead on the frontstretch
Lap 188; 27-Rossi makes pass for the lead in Turn 1.
Lap 189: 22-Pagenaud takes the lead with a pass on the frontstretch.
Lap 190: 22_Pagenaud leads 27-Rossi by 0.1617 of a second.
Lap 195: 22-Pagenaud leads 27-Rossi by 0.1264 of a second. As Pagenaud enters each of the long straightaways of this unique rectangle style oval track, he shows that he is leading by diving to the inside track wall doing his best to throw a curve to Rossi in his attempts to catch by owning Pagenaud's draft (the hole the leading car creates which allows the car behind to gain speed through the reduced friction of no-air).
Lap 196: 22-Pagenaud leads 27-Rossi by 0.1177 of a second.
Lap 197: 22-Pagenaud leads 27-Rossi by 0.0077 of a second. Further, Simon plays a driving game of Simon Says, by diving to the inside wall, as soon Alexander follows suit to maintain the draft, Simon pops toward the outside wall, then as Rossi begins to make his adjustment, pops back to the inside - the very opposite of blocking ... cutting the draft.
Lap 198: 27-Rossi makes pass for lead around outside of Turn 1 - Simon Says to Alexander, go on by, see you in half a lap.
Lap 199: 22-Pagenaud passes 27-Rossi for the lead in Turn 3. WHITE Flag: Pagenaud leads 27-Rossi at the line by .3439 of a second.
Lap 200: CHECKERED Flag: Simon Pagenaud wins the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge by 0.2086 of a second over Alexander Rossi.
The 2016 NTT IndyCar Series champion, Team Penske driver, & due to his performance in The-Month-Of-May - 2019 Championship points leader - Simon Says - I Win!
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| Image Credit: Walter Khun via NICS (2019) |
INDIANAPOLIS 500 POST-RACE QUICK NOTES:
Simon Pagenaud is fifth French-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500. The last French-born driver to win was Gil de Ferran in 2003. De Ferran is Brazilian citizen but was born in Paris. Pagenaud is the first Frenchman to win since Gaston Chevrolet in 1920.
Today’s win is Simon Pagenaud’s second win of 2019 and his 13th career Indy car victory.
Pagenaud became the second consecutive driver to win both the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Indianapolis 500 in the same season. Will Power accomplished the feat
It is the 18th Indianapolis 500 win for Team Penske, which is the most among all entrants. The team’s last Indianapolis 500 win was 2018 when Will Power won the race.
Alexander Rossi finished second, his third top-five finish in four Indianapolis 500 starts. Rossi has not finished outside the top 10 at Indianapolis
Takuma Sato finished third, his second podium finish at the Indianapolis 500. His only other podium was when he won in 2017.
103rd INDIANAPOLIS 500 presented by Gainbridge TOP THREE QUICK QUOTES:
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| Simple! Simon covers himself in White Gold, better, White Privilege ... the traditional bottle of milk bath of an INDY500 win in Victory Lane. Image Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher via NICS (2019) |
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet, winner): “It’s hard to believe right now, to be honest with you. It’s been such an intense race. I believe we led most of the race. The car was just on rails. The yellows came out perfectly. The stars are aligned. Man, wow, I’m seeing myself on TV with this. It’s pretty amazing. It’s a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this. So I’m just speechless. It’s just incredible. I never expected to be in this position, but I certainly was trying to make it as hard as I could. I want to thank the fans. The fans are amazing. It was awesome to share that with you guys on the Yard of Bricks. You’re the best, Indianapolis.” (Did questions about your job security motivate you?): “It didn’t. I’m just focused on the job, man. When you have a car like this, a team like this, you just work your way. It’s all about achieving and executing at the end, and we did execute perfectly today. No mistakes. Here we are, Victory Lane, man. We did it!”
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| Post race Alex taking a moment - It is always hard when one does everything that can to overtake, maintain a margin, and win when your competitor happens to have just one more tool in his box. Image Credit: Shawn Gritzmacher via NICS (2019) |
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda, second): (What was the difference at the end?): “Horsepower. That’s unfortunately the way it is. They did a great job. Obviously, he was on pole and led the most laps, but I think we had the superior car. We just didn’t have enough there at the end. Huge hat’s off to the entire No. 27 NAPA Andretti Autosport team. They’ve been fantastic all month, and I’m happy to get them a result. But unfortunately, nothing else matters here but winning. This one will be hard to get over, but at the end of the day, it was a great showing for the team and good for the points overall. But today will suck for a while.”
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| Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver and 2017 INDY500 Champion Takuma Sato. Sato finished in P3 Podium position only 0.3413 seconds behind winner Pagenaud. Image Credit: Richard Dowdy via NICS (2019) |
TAKUMA SATO (No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda, third): “We had some issue on the second pace lap, and we got down. It was lucky that we got back. And the last 15 laps were great excitement. Huge congratulations to Simon (Pagenaud). A big win. We tried to get Alex (Rossi), but we were not quite there yet.” (Did you think you could run this well?): “It’s always challenging. It’s always difficult. We just kept our heads down, did our job and made the most of it.”
He enters next weekend's two-race Detroit Grand Prix closed street course challenge leading by one point in the season championship - here's to keeping the charge alive, The EDJE says.
... notes from The EDJE
TAGS: 103rd Indianapolis 500, IMS, Pagenaud, Simon says, Rossi, Sato, Team Penske, Andretti Autosport, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Santino Ferrucci, Dale Coyne Racing, Snake Pit, The EDJE
