Takuma Sato wins the Indy 500

Actually, a little Marco Andretti had been on the cards, the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti, who had won the legendary race anno 1969. To the delight of the Andretti family and their fans, Marco Andretti had taken pole position with the fastest time in qualifying. But in the race, of course, a different situation prevailed. Already in the first turn after the start Scott Dixon grabbed the lead and passed Andretti. By the end, Andretti still managed to finish in 13th place.

Dixon led the race continuously, behind him already the winner of the Indanapolis 500 anno 2017, the Japanese Takuma Sato, pursued by Alexander Rossi, who took the lead in the race halfway through. But after leaving the pits too rashly and nearly shooting down a passing car in the process, he had to get back in line in the back seat due to his "unsafe release," ending his dreams of victory. Even his desperate race to catch up with reckless overtaking maneuvers did nothing to change this. Rather, this was responsible for him hitting the side wall at the end and having to retire from the race. There was probably a bit of over-motivation at work.

Dixon, Sato and Rahal were constantly at the front in a neck-and-neck race in which rookies also crept in again and again, but without having a real chance. The race and the associated pace car phases were characterized by many, sometimes spectacular, moves. The race was exciting throughout, although the atmosphere was not the same as usual, because the atmosphere that 300,000 people conjure up in the stadium was obviously missing.

Dixon let Takuma Sato take the lead, who was certainly happy not to always have to lead alone. For his part, the Japanese managed to put a comfortable gap between himself and Dixon. On lap 195, American Spencer Pigot crashed into the wall completely unexpectedly and violently, which of course was not on Dixon's radar. Because of the accident, the pace car came onto the track again. Behind him, the drivers had to finish the race. Dixon therefore no longer had a chance to fight for victory with Sato.