SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Marcus Ericsson spent five modest years in Formula One, his highest finish eighth place in Australia in the 2015 opener.
Sunday, the 31-year-old native of Sweden became a racing legend. Winning the Indianapolis 500 usually makes that happen. Winning the 500 the way Ericsson won the 106th edition, holding off Mexico’s Pato O’Ward and Brazil’s Tony Kanaan over a two-lap shootout – until a final caution flag for the sixth accident of the day ended the ferocious fun with a pair of corners to go – vaults him into legend territory.
The lead wasn’t the ideal spot to be for that final restart, but Ericsson gunned it at the right instant when the green flag waved on Lap 199, then weaved his way down the front and back straightaways to keep O’Ward from drafting on him – and to keep Kanaan from turning it into a freight train.
O’Ward’s best challenge came when he came alongside entering Turn 1 on the final lap, and Ericsson, on the inside, fended him off and pulled away. He’d opened about a four-car length lead going into Turn 3 when Sage Karam caromed off the Turn 2 wall, necessitating the final caution. That caused a few in the big throng of about 325,000 people in every nook and cranny of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to grouse, but Ericsson had proved he wasn’t going to be passed.
O’Ward admitted as such.
“There wasn’t enough speed to get by him, even with a massive run,” O’Ward said. “He was going to put me in the wall.”
“There was no way I was going to lift,” Ericsson said. “That was my plan.”
He was among the leaders all day, but led only on pit shuffles until Lap 190, when he passed O’Ward for the lead. Suddenly, with pole-sitter Scott Dixon – another Ganassi driver – shoved to the back of the pack by a pit speed penalty, with Helio Castroneves’ bid for a fifth title bogged down, and with none of the Penske Racing stable up front, it came down to Ericsson and Kanaan, both from Chip Ganassi Racing, and O’Ward, from McLaren SP Racing, for the win, the glory, and the milk.
“Ganassi has good cars wherever we go,” Ericsson said. “I felt strong all month. We were up there in every session.”
Kanaan, driving a nearly identical Dallara-Honda, thought he was in the catbird seat during the red flag to clean up teammate Jimmie Johnson’s Turn 2 accident.
“It was a cat and mouse day, and when it was time to go, we actually went,” Kanaan said. “I had a car to do it, for sure – except for the red flag.”
Dixon called his drive-through penalty for speeding as he entered pit lane as the leader on Lap 175 “frustrating.” As it cost him a shot at a second 500, it was at least that.
“I knew it was going to be close,” Dixon, who finished 21st, said of the penalty.
The one injury of the day was sustained by Callum Ilott, who sustained a broken right hand when the force of the hit in Turn 2 bashed his hand about the cockpit. He’s now questionable for next week’s Detroit Grand Prix. The other accidents featured Rinus VeeKay, Roman Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin. All walked away from them.