Ericsson Defeats O'Ward For Indy 500 Victory
Calum Gill 21:19 29/05/2022
Marcus Ericsson took his first oval win in IndyCar’s biggest race as he fended off Pato O’Ward for Indianapolis 500 victory.
The race was restarted for a two-lap shootout after Ericsson’s Ganassi team-mate Jimmie Johnson crashed five laps from the end, with the officials opting for a red flag to ensure the race didn’t end under yellow. Ericsson had lurked among the frontrunners all day then surged into the net lead by passing Arrow McLaren SP team-mates Felix Rosenqivst and O’Ward in quick succession following the final pitstops. The Swede then withstood everything O’Ward could throw at him over the sprint to the finish and was looking set for the win even before a last-lap crash by Sage Karam brought out another yellow. Tony Kanaan gave Ganassi two cars in the top three as he overcame Rosenqvist for third place. But it was another Ganassi driver who’d looked most likely to win: poleman Scott Dixon.
Despite now having led more Indy 500 laps than any other driver in history, Dixon still only has one win in the event way back in 2008. He spent the first part of the 2022 race swapping the lead with team-mate Álex Palou and the latter part of it duelling with O’Ward, but then added another chapter to his book of Indy 500 woe by picking up a pitlane speeding penalty at his last stop. He finished 21st. Palou dropped out of lead contention when he was penalised for having to stop in a closed pitlane after a heavy crash for Callum Ilott prompted a yellow just as Palou needed to pit. He recovered from the back to ninth. Andretti Autosport’s top finisher was Alexander Rossi in fifth. Team-mate Romain Grosjean crashed out of his first Indy 500 while Colton Herta was never on the pace in his spare car after his huge Carb Day crash and eventually retired.
Conor Daly surged to the front with a beautifully timed pitstop just before the Ilott yellow and battled with Dixon for a while before finishing sixth. Last year’s winning team Meyer Shank Racing managed seventh and eighth this time with Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, ahead of Palou and Santino Ferrucci. Penske was never in the hunt at the front. Pitstop delays cost Josef Newgarden and Will Power ground and they finished only 13th and 15th, while Scott McLaughlin crashed. The first crasher was front row start Rinus VeeKay, who only made it to lap 30.
