IndyCar: Takuma Sato wins 2019 Bommarito Automotive Group 500

Takuma Sato won a thrilling Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway to secure his second victory of the 2019 IndyCar season.

After falling from fifth place to last early on, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato utilized a timely caution flag to secure his second victory of the 2019 IndyCar season and the fifth victory of his career at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway not even one week after facing a boatload of criticism for his involvement in an opening lap wreck at Pocono Raceway.

As the laps wound down, A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Tony Kanaan was running in second place ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter in third. Carpenter finally passed Kanaan with a handful of laps remaining, and he took off in his pursuit of Sato.

Sato ultimately prevailed to win this 248-lap race around the four-turn, 1.25-mile (2.012-kilometer) World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway oval in Madison, Illinois, but Carpenter turned the fifth and final oval race on the 17-race schedule into a race with a photo finish.

Sato crossed the finish line first in his #30 Honda, and just 0.0399 seconds later, Carpenter crossed the finish line in his #20 Chevrolet, marking the closest finish in the series since Graham Rahal won by just 0.0080 seconds over James Hinchcliffe at Texas Motor Speedway in August of 2016.

Kanaan ended up finishing in a season-high third place in his #14 Chevrolet for his first podium finish in more than two years, but the real story was for fourth.

After passing Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the leader of the championship standings, for fourth place, Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci finished in fourth to tie his career-best finish in his #19 Honda. But Newgarden, in the final turn on the final lap, spun out after Ferrucci was unable to get around Kanaan and then tried to position his car on the racing line.

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Fortunately for Newgarden, his #2 Chevrolet coasted toward the finish line and he still finished the race, but not before teammate Simon Pagenaud finished in fifth place in his #22 Chevrolet and Carlin’s Conor Daly finished in a season-high sixth in his #59 Chevrolet.

Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta and Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti rounded out the top 10 by finishing in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #28 Honda, #88 Honda and #98 Honda, respectively.

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi entered this race as Newgarden’s closest rival for the lead of the championship standings, but his three-stop fuel strategy went out the window in the race’s final stint, forcing him to pit. He ended up finishing in 13th place in his #27 Honda and fell to third in the standings behind Pagenaud despite the fact that he had a top three car on a night when he was not expected to be a contender.

Newgarden was on a similar strategy to Rossi before coming into the pits for fuel and tires during the race’s final caution flag period when Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan’s Sebastien Bourdais wrecked after pitting from second place.

This was also the caution flag period that Sato, Carpenter and Kanaan utilized to pit and maintain their positions in front of the field after stretching their previous fuel loads.

This race featured a total of 13 lead changes among 11 drivers — half of the field. Aside of Sato, who led 61 laps of the race, 10 other drivers led at least one lap. Ferrucci led more laps than anybody else in the field with 97 laps led.

Daly, Newgarden, Herta, Andretti, Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates James Hinchcliffe and rookie Marcus Ericsson, Bourdais and Team Penske’s Will Power.

This race featured a total of five caution flag periods, all for one-car incidents, that spanned 49 laps. Two resulted from incidents involving Ericsson while one resulted from Power hitting the wall and another resulted from Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot crashing. As stated above, Bourdais brought out the race’s fifth and final caution flag period with his wreck.

Of the 22 drivers who started the race, 17 finished it. Of the 17 drivers who finished the race, 11 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Race Results
1st – Takuma Sato
2nd – Ed Carpenter
3rd – Tony Kanaan
4th – Santino Ferrucci
5th – Simon Pagenaud
6th – Conor Daly
7th – Josef Newgarden
8th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
9th – Colton Herta
10th – Marco Andretti
11th – Felix Rosenqvist
12th – James Hinchcliffe
13th – Alexander Rossi
14th – Zach Veach
15th – Charlie Kimball
16th – Marcus Ericsson
17th – Matheus Leist
18th – Graham Rahal
19th – Sebastien Bourdais
20th – Scott Dixon
21st – Spencer Pigot
22nd – Will Power

The penultimate race of the 2019 IndyCar season is the next race on the schedule, and it is the Grand Prix of Portland. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 1, and it is scheduled to begin shortly thereafter at 3:30 p.m. ET.