Indy 500: Newgarden wins the famous race for the second time

Between the three major motorsport events that took place yesterday – the Formula E race in Shanghai, the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco and the IndyCar 500-mile race in Indianapolis – what was common was that McLaren drivers stood out on all three occasions.

But none of them managed to reach the top of the podium – in three different races they finished second, and the victories went to their rivals. We’ve already talked about the electric series and F1, now it’s the Indy 500’s turn.

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward was particularly offended as he started the final lap as the leader but was unable to fend off Josef Newgarden’s attack and crossed the finish line first, just 0.314 seconds ahead of the Mexican. For the 33-year-old American driver, this is the second consecutive victory in the Indy 500, which in itself is a fairly rare achievement. The last time this happened was more than twenty years ago by the Brazilian Helio Castroneves. And it was Team Penske’s twentieth victory in the Indianapolis Classic.

The race was quite chaotic and for starters the start was postponed by four hours due to heavy rain. When the race did start, it was continually interrupted by yellow flags and safety car calls – a series of different types of mishaps and mishaps. accidents were endless.

The leaders changed frequently, but two laps before the finish O’Ward overtook Newgarden and took the first position, but was unable to hold it as he could not escape the bright yellow-red Penske car. On the final lap, Joseph took advantage of the slipstream and passed Pato around the outer radius of Turn 4 of the oval, and O’Ward had no time to react.

“There’s nothing better than winning a race like this,” Newgarden rejoiced after the finish. “But I must also praise Pato, he is a very worthy and fair opponent. He could have won too, but we were just luckier and I am very proud of our whole team!”

Pato O’Ward, of course, did not hide that he was extremely upset: “It is difficult to find words for this, but I am proud of the work we did today – we managed to win back more than once, and we are back on the front row again and again… After all the efforts we have made It is very painful to miss the victory two turns before the finish.

When victory was so close it always breaks the heart, especially if this is not the first time, and it remains to be seen whether we will get opportunities in the future.”

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon crossed the finish line in third and Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s teammate at Arrow McLaren, took fourth place. How can you not remember that yesterday’s other McLaren classics finished in the same order: in Monaco, Oscar Piastri finished second and his teammate, Lando Norris, fourth…

“The entire Arrow McLaren team has put in an incredible amount of effort over the past month,” said Zac Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing. – Our drivers and team had a great time at the Indy 500, finishing 2nd, 4th, 11th and 18th. We were so close to winning again, but we will be back!”

It is worth adding that Callum Ilott finished 11th, 18th was an IndyCar newcomer, but one of the best NASCAR drivers, Kyle Larson, who attempted the Indy 500 for the first time in his career as part of Arrow McLaren.