De Ferran Wins Indy 500
Same team, same country, different driver.
Gil de Ferran held off Helio Castroneves on a six-lap sprint to the end Sunday to win the Indianapolis 500, spoiling his Brazilian teammate's bid for an unprecedented third straight victory.
De Ferran, who was severely injured in a crash March 23 in Phoenix, passed Castroneves for the lead on a restart on lap 170 of the 200-lap race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and stayed out front through two more restarts.
A joyous and tearful de Ferran clutched his helmet with both hands after reaching Victory Lane, then — wincing from his earlier back injury — stood and threw his arms into the air in triumph.
"It's hard to describe in words what I'm feeling right now. It's such an unbelievable moment for me," he said.
Moments later, he took the traditional swig of milk, dribbling it down his chin.
"I love milk," he said. "Wonderful."
The victory was the third straight for team owner Roger Penske, whose record for wins at Indy climbed to 13.
Castroneves did everything he could to put his name into the history books, pushing de Ferran to the end and finishing behind him by only 0.299-seconds — about five car lengths. It was the third closest finish in 87 Indy races.
Castroneves started from the pole and de Ferran began 10th in the 33-car field. Both Penske drivers spent the race putting themselves in position for the finish that reversed the order of Castroneves' first win in 2001.
Castroneves beat Tomas Scheckter out of the pits on lap 129 during a caution period to take the lead. De Ferran was third on the restart on lap 134, but quickly shot past Scheckter to make it Penske 1-2.
Both made their final pit stop on lap 166, moved back to the front when the other leaders made their final stops and stayed there the rest of the way.
Rookie Dan Wheldon brought out the last of eight caution flags in the race when he slammed into the fourth turn wall, flew into the air and landed upside down. Wheldon, who had been running in the top six most of the day, was not injured.
Another rookie, Scott Dixon, held up the restart when he scraped the wall and spun on the main straightaway.
Finally, the green flag waved again on lap 195, and de Ferran got a quick start, pulling away from Castroneves. That was the way it stayed.
"I'm disappointed, but Gil, you deserve it," Castroneves said. "You did well. Now, let's go and (win) a championship. That's what we need."
The two Brazilians climbed the fence at the finish line to the cheers of fans after the race, a Castroneves tradition for the past two years.
De Ferran led only the final 31 laps. He averaged 156.291 mph in the race that took 3 hours, 11 minutes and 56.99 seconds to complete.
Tony Kanaan gave new team owner Michael Andretti a third-place finish, with Scheckter, who led a race-high 63 laps, winding up fourth. Rookie Tora Takagi was fifth, less than 2 seconds behind the winner.
Andretti, making his last start as a driver, had another in a long list of Indy disappointments for his famous racing family. His father, Mario, won Indy in 1969 and spent 24 years trying in vain to do it again.
For Michael Andretti, this was his 13th try and he wound up coasting to the pit lane after 94 laps with a broken piece in the throttle, which cut engine power.
Andretti led 28 laps, making his Indy total 426, the most by any non-winner.
"It wasn't meant to be," Andretti said. "The car was running very good, and we were running at the top all day. At least I can say I had a good shot at winning my last race."
Wheldon and Robby Gordon also were driving for the new Andretti Green Racing team, but Wheldon wound up 19th and Gordon 27th after a gearbox failure.
Gordon completed 169 laps and immediately left for Concord, N.C., to drive in the NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 later in the day.
"It would have been a lot easier to run 600 miles tonight ... with a better finish," said Gordon, who was attempting "The Double" for the fourth time.
Two-time winner Al Unser Jr. ran in the top 10 most of the day and wound up ninth, the last driver on the lead lap.
The race, the first 500-mile test for the all-new Toyota, Honda and Chevrolet engines mandated by the Indy Racing league for 2003, was marred by blown engines and crashes.
Among those who had engine failures were 1996 Indy winner Buddy Lazier, two-time defending IROL champion Sam Hornish Jr., Jimmy Vasser, Robbie Buhl, Billy Boat, Sarah Fisher and Felipe Giaffone.
Honda won the battle, powering de Ferran's G Force to the victory for the Japanese company's first Indy win.
Castroneves led the first 16 laps before pitting under a caution flag that was brought out when Fisher, the only woman in the field, ran through the fluids from her own blown engine and slammed into the wall.
Indy rookie Scott Dixon took the top spot and led until he ran out of fuel on lap 31, giving the top spot for the first time to Andretti.
The lead changed hands several times the rest of the way before the battle eventually boiled down to the two Penske drivers.
The win was a big step for de Ferran, who skipped the final race of the 2002 season with a concussion from a crash, then missed the IRL's Japan race last month while recovering from another concussion and broken bones in his neck and lower back.
That accident left the 35-year-old de Ferran flat on his back for several weeks, and he was unable to return to his race car until May 3, the opening day of practice for the 500.
Until Wheldon's crash with only 14 laps remaining, none of the nine rookies in the field had gone out of the race.
A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of the first four-time Indy winner, drove to 18th place on his 19th birthday. He finished 11 laps behind de Ferran.
There were several other crashes in the race. Richie Hearn hit the wall on lap 52 and Jaques Lazier darted to the left to avoid Hearn's car and spun into the inside wall. Airton Dare, also driving for the elder Foyt, also hit the wall.
Speedway officials said before the race that ticket sales were slower than usual this year because of the economy, but it appeared most of the about 320,000 seats were full.