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INDIANAPOLIS – Simon Pagenaud may have an explanation as good as any other for winning the 103rd edition of the 500th Indianapolis on Sunday.
"This race chooses its winners," said Pagenaud after standing up to Alexander Rossi in a frenzied finish. "Today, I was elected."
Pagenaud also helped his supernatural ability to anticipate Rossi's movements. This allowed him to win Rossi, winner of the race in 2016 and who claimed to have rolled to "eleven tenths" in the last 12 laps, to try to take the lead.
"Here, nothing counts more than winning," said Rossi, disappointed, who beat only two tenths of a second. "I know it, it will be difficult to overcome.
Among the obstacles that Rossi had to overcome, there was a perilous blocking maneuver that Pagenaud had imposed on him during the last lap, going back and forth on the track in his way. When asked if he had considered presenting a protest, Rossi said, "It was the last round of the Indy 500. Simon was leading." I do not think anyone will do anything about it. It was unfortunate. "
Rossi was also thwarted by a mediocre who refused to give in, pushing him against a wall. A driver almost blocked him off the track and a fuel tap stuck during a pit stop cost him valuable time and his position on the track.
Rossi said his general comment about this year's race was that the pilots failed to respect each other on the track. They wandered from one to the other, cut themselves one to the other in a dangerous way and caused accidents.
A stack of five cars, the only major wreck of the day, was caused by the refusal of one driver to give way to another, blocking it in the inner grass. The officials stopped the race for 18 minutes to clean up the mess, building a last moment among the leading riders.
Of the 17 pilots who traveled the whole distance, out of a group of 33, Pagenaud easily made the most fluid sail.
"I mean, no problem," he says. "No mistake, on the track, in the pits. I said before the race that this is what it would take to win here.
Pagenaud, who turned 35 last week, led 116 of the 200 laps of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway lap. He also won the Indianapolis Grand Prix two weeks ago on the road course of the site and had earned the pole position for the 500m.
"So, yes, it was the perfect month for us," said Pagenaud. "But that's why Roger Penske hired me to win."
"Did you see that?" Exclaimed Penske after the arrival. "Can you believe it, I can not, this race side by side, turn after lap, is as good a race as I've ever seen."
It was praise from a team owner who had been racing since the 1960s and now holds a record of 18 wins in the 500m at Indianapolis.
"When you have a car like this, a team like this, you work in your own way, performing and performing, until the end result," Pagenaud said. "We performed perfectly today. No errors. And here we are, Victory Lane, dude. We did it. "
When Pagenaud then raised the pint of milk traditionally attributed to the winner of Indy, he took a sip and then poured the rest over his head. "I love milk!" He said. "Fresh whole milk."
Pagenaud, a native of Poitiers, France, said that he had developed a pronounced taste for milk while a teenager was storing a crate of dairy products in his father's grocery store .
It was also at that time that he started playing video racing games and playing karting. He showed enough aptitude to quit his supermarket job and settle in the United States 15 years ago to pursue his dreams of running one day to Indy.
He finally managed to enter IndyCar in 2011 and won his first race two years later, drawing Penske's eye. He won the 2016 IndyCar title for Team Penske, but had a drought before this month.
"It's a dream come true," said Pagenaud. "A lifetime to try to achieve it."
Penske has dispelled rumors that Pagenaud's contract may not be renewed after this season.
"Simon will be back with us next year – you can count on that," Penske said. "I can kill this rumor here, now."
After taking the checkered flag just a few meters from Rossi, closely followed by the 2017 winner, Takuma Sato, and his teammates Penske Josef Newgarden and Will Power, winner in 2018, Pagenaud broke with the Indy tradition in which the winner goes to Victory Lane.
Instead, he stopped his car on the long strip of bricks from 1911 that adorns the finish line, came out, knelt and kissed them.
"It was great to share this with you at the Brickyard," said Pagenaud on the sound system. "You are the best, Indianapolis."
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