Takuma Sato Wins the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500; Helio Castroneves Denied 4th Victory

Five years ago, Takuma Sato went for the Indy 500 victory and crashed on the last lap of the race. Today, he took the checkered flag in front of everybody else.

Andretti Autosport’s Takuma Sato came into the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 having not won an IndyCar race in over four seasons. But in his first season with his new team, the 40-year-old took the checkered flag to win the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”. The win was his first in IndyCar since 2013, 71 races ago. He becomes the sixth different winner in six races so far this season.

Sato had never finished higher than 13th at the Indy 500, a result he put together in 2015. But he has been fast at the track; after all, he nearly won the race in 2012, and may have had it not been for an over-aggressive pass attempt on leader and eventual race winner Dario Franchitti.

Starting from the inside of the second row, Sato showed he had the speed all month long in his Honda-powered car. Despite pit issues towards the middle of the race, he was able to bounce back and hold off three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves, the highest finishing Chevrolet driver, for the race victory by 0.2011 seconds. It was the first time since a driver who started in the top 10 won the Indy 500 since Dan Wheldon won the race in 2011.

In his rookie attempt at Indy, Ed Jones came home in 3rd place, and Max Chilton, who led more laps than any driver in the field, finished in an IndyCar career-high 4th place. Tony Kanaan took 5th place.

Other Notable Statistics and Information

The race featured a total of 35 lead changes among an Indy 500 record 15 different drivers. Max Chilton led the most laps, leading 50 of the race’s 200.

The race also had 10 caution flag periods for a total of 50 laps. The first caution flag of the race came out on lap 53 when Jay Howard hit the wall coming out of turn 1, bounced back onto the main racing line of the track, and was driven over by polesitter Scott Dixon’s car, sending Dixon’s car airborne, flipping over top of Helio Castroneves’ car and coming down on top of the infield wall.

This caution flag quickly turned into a red flag because of all the debris, which then brought out the second caution flag on lap 56 as a result of the caution laps completed after the red flag. The wreck has been talked about as one of the nastiest Indy 500 wrecks ever.

The third caution flag of the race came out on lap 67 when Conor Daly hit the wall in turn three. Jack Harvey also got caught up in that crash, wrecking after running over debris from the incident.

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The fourth caution flag of the race came out on lap 81 when a piece of Marco Andretti’s rear wing came off on the front straightaway. The fifth caution flag of the race came out on lap 122 when Buddy Lazier hit the turn 2 wall. The sixth caution flag of the race came out on lap 131 for debris.

The seventh caution flag of the race came out on lap 136 when Ryan Hunter-Reay’s Honda engine blew up on the back straightaway. The eighth caution flag of the race followed on lap 166 when Charlie Kimball’s Honda engine blew up on the back straightaway as well. On lap 179, the ninth caution flag of the race came out as a result of Fernando Alonso’s Honda engine blowing up on the front straightaway.

The tenth and final caution flag of the race came out on lap 184 when Oriol Servia and James Davison made contact, which caused Will Power to lose control of his car and take James Hinchcliffe out. Josef Newgarden also hit the inside wall as a result of this accident.

Full Results

Here are full results from today’s race. For other technical information, visit IndyCar.com.

Note: (R) denotes an Indianapolis 500 rookie.

1. Takuma Sato, #26, Andretti Autosport, Honda
2. Helio Castroneves, #3, Team Penske, Chevrolet
3. Ed Jones (R), #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda
4. Max Chilton, #8, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
5. Tony Kanaan, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
6. Juan Pablo Montoya, #22, Team Penske, Chevrolet
7. Alexander Rossi, #98, Andretti Herta Autosport, Honda
8. Marco Andretti, #27, Andretti Autosport, Honda
9. Gabby Chaves, #88, Harding Racing, Chevrolet
10. Carlos Munoz, #14, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
11. Ed Carpenter, #20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
12. Graham Rahal, #15, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
13. Mikhail Aleshin, #7, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
14. Simon Pagenaud, #1, Team Penske, Chevrolet
15. Sebastian Saavedra, #17, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet
16. JR Hildebrand, #21, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet
17. Pippa Mann, #63, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda
18. Spencer Pigot, #11, Juncos Racing, Chevrolet
19. Josef Newgarden, #2, Team Penske, Chevrolet
20. James Davison, #18, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda
21. Oriol Servia, #16, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Honda
22. James Hinchcliffe, #5, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda
23. Will Power, #12, Team Penske, Chevrolet
24. Fernando Alonso (R), #29, Andretti Autosport, Honda
25. Charlie Kimball, #83, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
26. Zach Veach (R), #40, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
27. Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28, Andretti Autosport, Honda
28. Sage Karam, #24, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, Chevrolet
29. Buddy Lazier, #44, Lazier Partners Racing, Chevrolet
30. Conor Daly, #4, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Chevrolet
31. Jack Harvey (R), #50, Andretti Autosport, Honda
32. Scott Dixon, #9, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda
33. Jay Howard, #77, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Honda

Next: IndyCar: Remaining 2017 Schedule

Next Race

The series takes no more than a few days off before it returns to action on Saturday, June 3rd, 2017. The 14-turn, 2.36-mile Belle Isle street circuit is set to host a doubleheader, with races on both Saturday and Sunday.