Juan Pablo Montoya drives Chevy to a second Indy 500 victory

Montoya passes teammate Will Power for the win at the Brickyard

The old guy ruled Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who turns 40 in September, joined the Indianapolis 500’s two-time winner’s club with a late-race flurry. He passed Team Penske teammate Will Power on the outside in turn one on lap 198 of 200 and held on.

Montoya won his first 500 as a series rookie in 2000, then went to Formula One and NASCAR before joining Roger Penske’s IndyCar Series organization last year.

Penske went to victory lane for a record-extending 16th time and the first time with Montoya, who won for Chip Ganassi the first time.

Montoya won despite being 30th early in the race after being forced to pit with rear-wing damage following contact from Simona de Silvestro. Montoya wasn’t happy with the Swiss driver, but he kept his cool and recovered.

Power settled for second with Charlie Kimball of Ganassi Racing third and teammate Scott Dixon fourth. All four of those drivers are powered by Chevrolet.

The top-finishing Honda was driven by Graham Rahal in fifth.

Marco Andretti was sixth with three-time 500 winner Helio Castroneves seventh.

The race hadn’t even started and there was trouble on the track. Conor Daly’s second 500 ended on the pace lap when it appeared his car’s exhaust system caught fire. Alex Tagliani had a shifting problem, but he was able to leave the grid due to a push start.

In the first turn of the race, Takuma Sato tried to use his momentum to go from the outside of row eight to the outside of row seven, but that didn’t work. Sage Karam, who had the position, couldn’t do anything about already being two-wide, and three cars at the corner’s exit was too much. Karam and Sato collectively hit the wall.

Behind them, Ryan Briscoe tried to slow up and was clipped from behind by James Davison. The two Australian drivers had started on the last row as a result of not having qualified the car. Briscoe’s car wasn’t damaged, and he soldiered on after refiring. Davison’s car wasn’t hurt either.

Under the caution, de Silvestro ran into the right rear corner of Montoya’s car, breaking part of his rear wing. The broken piece came off in turn four before Montoya could pit.

On lap 62, short-track champion Bryan Clauson had his car drift high in turn four and hit the wall. Clauson was not injured.

Ed Carpenter’s difficult month came to an end on lap 113 when he hit the wall in a crash including Oriol Servia. Carpenter tried to pass Servia entering turn one on the inside, and Servia came down on him. The crash was reminiscent of last year’s involving Carpenter and James Hinchcliffe, although in that instance Carpenter was in the other position. Neither driver was injured.

The crash was the second in the past eight days for Carpenter, who destroyed a car in the morning practice before qualifying. That crash, in turn two, was more dramatic as the car got airborne. His team, CFH Racing, also crashed a car in practice with Josef Newgarden.

In the caution for that accident, three Dale Coyne Racing cars were on pit road at the same time. Pippa Mann was leaving her pit box when Davison’s car pulled out. They made contact, pushing Davison’s car toward Tristan Vautier’s car, which was parked. Both right-side crew members were knocked in the air, the one working the rear tire taken off pit road in an ambulance.

Tony Kanaan, the 2013 race winner, was a top contender until he lost control in turn three following a pit stop. He had asked for and received a wing change on that stop, and the change in downforce must have caught him off guard. The back end of the car stepped out, hitting the wall. He was not injured.

On lap 176, three cars came together in a big crash. Things started with Jack Hawksworth clipping the back end of Sebastian Saavedra. They both slid to the wall, and Saavedra’s momentum took him into the path of rookie Stefano Coletti. The impact was fierce, with Coletti hit Saavedra’s car in the left wheel. Debris scattered and the front of Coletti’s car lifted slightly in the air, but it was not the airborne crash of earlier in the month.

Saavedra’s damaged car slid to the inside wall where there was another impact. Saavedra had to be extricated from the car and carried to the ambulance.

The race was held without Hinchcliffe, who remained at an Indianapolis hospital following injuries suffered earlier in the week.

 

Indianapolis 500 ResultsPos.Car #DriverManufacturerLapsRunning / Reason Out12Juan Pablo MontoyaChevrolet200Running21Will PowerChevrolet200Running383Charlie KimballChevrolet200Running49Scott DixonChevrolet200Running515Graham RahalHonda200Running627Marco AndrettiHonda200Running73Helio CastronevesChevrolet200Running86JR HildebrandChevrolet200Running921Josef NewgardenChevrolet200Running1022Simon PagenaudChevrolet200Running1111Sebastien BourdaisChevrolet200Running125Ryan BriscoeHonda200Running1314Takuma SatoHonda200Running1424Townsend BellChevrolet200Running1528Ryan Hunter-ReayHonda200Running1698Gabby Chaves (R)Honda200Running1748Alex TaglianiHonda200Running187James JakesHonda200Running1929Simona de SilvestroHonda200Running2026Carlos MunozHonda200Running2125Justin WilsonHonda199Running2263Pippa MannHonda197Running2317Sebastian SaavedraChevorlet175Contact2441Jack HawksworthHonda175Contact254Stefano Coletti (R)Chevrolet175Contact2610Tony KanaanChevrolet151Contact2719James DavisonHonda116Mechanical2818Tristan VautierHonda116Mechanical2932Oriol ServiaHonda112Contact3020Ed CarpenterChevrolet112Contact3188Bryan ClausonChevrolet61Contact328Sage KaramChevrolet0Contact3343Conor DalyHonda0Mechanical

 

Posted in: Chevy, drives, Montoya, Pablo, second, victory