500 Miles of Indianapolis – Race: Montoya, 15 Years Later

The indestructible Colombian, 39, emerges victorious in a brawl in IndyCar against his teammate Will Power. The Bad Boy of Bogota has come a long way; starting 15th, he dropped to 30th place following a rear wing change before making the most impressive comeback of the race.

Three Frenchmen on the grid

Tristan Vautier joins Simon Pagenaud and Sébastien Bourdais on the starting grid for the 500 miles. The 2012 Indy Lights champion replaces Carlos Huertas in the Dale Coyne Racing car. The Colombian was not authorized to start the IndyCar race due to an inner ear issue.

Stars give the start

Jeff Gordon, NASCAR champion, sets the pace in the Pace Car during the warm-up laps. Even before the start, American Conor Daly is forced to retire due to a mechanical failure. Meanwhile, actor and endurance driver Patrick Dempsey waves the green flag for the 99th edition of the Indianapolis 500.

A quick round and then leaves

From the first lap, Sage Karam makes contact with Takuma Sato, causing the first Safety Car and the American’s retirement. The yellow flag extends until the 12th lap due to a piece of bodywork lost by Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian returns to the pits to change his rear wing and comes out 30th.

Shortly after the restart, Simon Pagenaud, who started 3rd, finds himself battling with Will Power, Tony Kanaan, and Scott Dixon. The latter two regularly exchange the lead during a long green flag period, while the French driver takes advantage of his opponents’ slipstream to save fuel.

A third American in trouble

On the 64th lap, Bryan Clauson makes a driving error. The young dirt track champion hits the outside wall, triggering a flurry of pit stops during the yellow flag, from which Simon Pagenaud emerges in the lead. At the green flag, overtakes happen one after the other. The Frenchman drops to 4th place before climbing back up the rankings. At the same time, Sébastien Bourdais finds himself in 18th position after starting 7th on the grid.

Following the pit stops that began midway through the race, on the 99th lap, Pagenaud is back in the lead ahead of Kanaan and Montoya.

A new incident in the pits

A new incident involves Ed Carpenter and Oriol Servia on the 114th lap. The American attempted a daring overtake on the Spaniard, who moved back in on him. During pit stops under the yellow flag, Pippa Mann collided with James Davison’s car, which struck two of Tristan Vautier’s mechanics. The Australian and the Frenchman retired due to mechanical problems. The Dale Coyne Racing mechanics were quickly attended to by rescue teams and were evacuated by ambulance.

At the restart of the race, war is declared between the Penske teams (Pagenaud, Montoya, Power) and Ganassi (Dixon, Kanaan). The cars are exchanging and re-exchanging the lead in the race.

The following pit stops begin under a green flag starting from lap 150 with Scott Dixon. The three Penske cars of Pagenaud, Montoya, and Power fiercely contest the podium position at the pit exit, with the Frenchman emerging victorious. Shortly after, the experienced Tony Kanaan loses control and crashes his car.

With 32 laps to go, debris on the track causes a new yellow flag and a final pit stop. The 6 fastest cars in refueling are from Penske and Ganassi: Power, Montoya, Dixon, Pagenaud, Castroneves, Kimball, while Carlos Munoz and Justin Wilson decide to stay on track and briefly parade in the lead.

The Great Disillusionment

With 24 laps to go, Simon Pagenaud suffers a front wing break. He quickly falls in the standings. The Frenchman was nevertheless one of the strong contenders of the race. He was named by Kanaan as a serious competitor for the win. At the same time, Hawksworth and Saavedra spin out. The latter is hit by Stefano Coletti, who cannot avoid him. Saavedra remains trapped in his race car for a long time. His right foot gets stuck at the pedal area following the collision with the Monegasque driver. Rescue teams have to intervene at the nose of the car to extract the Colombian from his cockpit.

At the end of the race, a very intense battle involves Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power, Charlie Kimball, and Scott Dixon. The drivers finish in that order. The Colombian thus prevents his Australian teammate from securing his first victory in this legendary race. Montoya is the first driver of the year to achieve 2 victories. He thereby strengthens his lead in the championship.