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Marcus Ericsson wins Indy 500 2022



INDIANAPOLIS – Marcus Ericsson has had to leave Formula 1 to become a global superstar – a goal achieved on Sunday when the Swedish driver won the Indianapolis 500.

Ericsson took control of the race late – largely due to Scott Dixon’s teammate skirunning penalty – and it was in control for Chip Ganassi Racing until being bumped by teammate Jimmie Johnson with four laps remaining resulted in a rare red flag stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

IndyCar is one of the purest forms of sports car racing and rarely give false alarms or introduce stoppages that could change the outcome. But the crowd of more than 300,000 – just a few thousand wary of ticket sales and the biggest sporting event since the pandemic began – roared when IndyCar called for cars to the tunnel.

The pause left Pato O’Ward and the insiders challenging for almost 12 minutes on the pit lane to strategize how to get Ericsson to win.

The race continued with two laps remaining and Ericsson easily got the jump on O’Ward. The Mexicans have one last look at the lead that Ericsson defends and O’Ward knows not to force matters.

“No, he would corner me if I didn’t,” O’Ward said.

A collision by Sage Karam in traffic sent caution on the final lap and Ericsson advanced to the yellow podium. Karam was taken to the hospital to be evaluated for muscle pain.

For Ericsson, it was his third career IndyCar win in 52 career starts. All three were odd wins in that Ericsson had won after red flag stops, but he never assumed he had won the Indy 500 as he sat inside his cockpit waiting back to the race.

“You can never take it for granted, and there are a lot of rounds to go,” says Ericsson. “I prayed a lot to not be yellow, then I knew there would probably be a yellow color, and it was hard to regain focus.”

But he did, and he kept the biggest win of his career. Ericsson won the title for five seasons in F1 before he packed up to the United States and switched to North American open wheel racing.

This is the fifth Indy 500 win for team owner Chip Ganassi, who captured a ride to the victory podium next to Ericsson’s car. Ericsson is the second Swede to win the Indy 500 in 106 runs, along with 1999 winner Kenny Brack.

Ericsson filled the bottle with milk on his face, then handed the bottle to Ganassi so that the boss could get the bottle for himself. Ganassi hasn’t won 500 in 10 years and has sent 5 legitimate candidates to Indy to end the drought.

The win seems to go to Dixon, the six-time IndyCar champion, who traveled more than 234 mph in qualifying to take the pole. The New Zealander led 95 out of 200 rounds on Sunday and Honda’s motobike was easily the fastest on the court – so fast that Dixon didn’t slow down on the final pit stop. The penalty left him out of contention to win.

That leaves Ericsson and Tony Kanaan still in the fight for Ganassi. Kanaan, 47, the oldest driver in the field, thinks he is in the perfect position for victory having placed fourth in the restart.

O’Ward will not relent. He signed a contract extension with Arrow McLaren SP on Friday and desperately want to win. But he came in second, just short of time when Mexicans tried to present a celebratory banner for his country on motorsport’s biggest day; Sergio Perez opens Sunday with victory at Monaco grand opening.

Kanaan finished third in the Ganassi car and was followed by Felix Rosenqvist, another Swede who was fourth for McLaren. Rosenqvist is on a one-year contract with McLaren and fights for her job.

American drivers Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly finished fifth and sixth, Rossi for Andretti Autosport and Daly for Ed Carpenter Racing.

Last year’s winner, Helio Castroneves, is seventh and one place ahead of Meyer Shank Racing teammate Simon Pagenaud’s. Defending IndyCar champion Alex Palou placed 10th in another Ganassi category.

Dixon faded into 21st place after the penalty, and although he visited Ericsson on the winning podium, he was comforted by his wife on the pit lane after the race. Johnson placed 28th in the Indy 500 launch.

“It’s a team, everyone is everyone’s source, everyone works together and everyone is an open book,” said Ganassi. “You’re going to have things happen in these 500-mile races and they don’t always go your way. So, you know, we were lucky to have five good cars and five good drivers.”

The Honda drivers took six of the top nine spots, along with wins.



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