Pagenaud holds off Rossi to win 103rd Indy 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Simon Pagenaud could have saved his job by giving Roger Penske a golden Indianapolis 500 victory.

Pagenaud gave the venerable group proprietor his 18th victory in “The Biggest Spectacle in Racing” by outdueling Alexander Rossi in a wide ranging 13-lap dash to the end Sunday. The 2 swapped the lead 5 occasions over the ultimate stretch earlier than Pagenaud stormed to the entrance for good seconds earlier than he took the white flag.

Rossi chased him for the ultimate lap round Indianapolis Motor Speedway however fell zero.2086 seconds shy of his second Indy 500 win — the seventh-closest end within the 103 years of the race.

As a substitute, it was a milk-fueled celebration for Group Penske on the 50th anniversary of the proprietor’s first entry within the well-known race.

Simon Pagenaud received his first Indy 500, making an audacious cross of Alexander Rossi earlier than taking the white flag. AP

Penske now has two consecutive Indy 500 victories — Will Energy received final yr — and two consecutives sweeps on the speedway in Might. Pagenaud, in a contract yr and underperforming, arrived at Indy along with his job on the road. His rumored alternative is Rossi, however Pagenaud received on the highway course two weeks in the past, received the pole to begin the Indy 500 and now has given his boss a victory in the one race Penske actually cares about.

“What a man, are you able to consider it?” Penske stated. “He received that factor, I simply cannot consider it.”

Neither may Rossi, who misplaced his cool a number of occasions within the race however twice charged to the entrance and had higher gasoline mileage than Pagenaud and the Penske vehicles.

“Horsepower, that is unlucky the way in which it’s,” stated Rossi, who was in a Honda for Andretti Autosport. “I feel we had the superior automobile, we simply did not have sufficient there on the finish.”

Pagenaud was in a Chevrolet and the bowtie model was the dominant engine maker all Might.

He climbed from his automobile, let loose a primal scream of aid, then dumped your complete successful jug of milk over his head.

“We have come by means of a lifetime of making an attempt to attain this and I’m simply speechless,” Pagenaud stated. “I by no means anticipated to be on this place and I definitely am grateful.”

Requested if he was on a mission — Pagenaud led a race-high 116 of the 200 laps — to avoid wasting his job, Pagenaud dismissed the stress of free company.

“The milk motivated me,” Pagenaud stated. “Simply concentrate on the job, man.”

Pagenaud is the primary Frenchman to win the Indy 500 since Rene Thomas in 1914. Indianapolis information rely 5 French winners, however Gil de Ferran in 2003 and Gaston Chevrolet in 1920, whereas born in France, record different nationalities.

Pagenaud was the 21st driver to win from the pole and first since Helio Castroneves a decade in the past.