Dario Franchitti takes victory in historic Indianapolis 500

Dario Franchitti has stormed to his third Indianapolis 500 victory, at the 96th running of the legendary event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was the first oval of the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series, and the first since Dan Wheldon’s tragic death at Las Vegas last year. Franchitti’s team-mate Scott Dixon came home 2nd, with Tony Kanaan 3rd in an eventful and incident filled 200-lap race.

Ryan Briscoe had pole-position for the race, and when the green flag flew at the start James Hinchcliffe shot into the lead on the opening lap. In traditional oval racing style, the lead changed hands four times in the first 7 laps, before the first caution was brought out when rookie Bryan Clauson spun on lap 14. At the back of the pack, the two Lotus drivers’ of Simona de Silvestro and Jean Alesi were forced to retire after failing to meet the 105% rule.

As the field slowed down behind the safety car, the majority of the drivers’ peeled off into the pit-lane to complete their first stops. Dario Franchitti suffered a disastrous stop, as the Scot was tipped into a spin within the pits by E.J. Viso. On lap 19 the race was resumed, as many of the drivers suffered a slow restart whereas at the front Briscoe was in the lead.

The race ran relatively incident free for the next 60 laps, which forced many drivers’ to complete green flag pits-stops. The first to pit was Hinchcliffe, before new race leader Marco Andretti took to pit road. As the rest of the front runners made their pit-stops, Tagliani, Dixon and Kimball all lead before Andretti returned to the front.

Mike Conway suffered a torrid stop, as he locked up heading into his pit box and subsequently hit several mechanics. Due to this he was issued a drive-through penalty, however the Brit was unable to take that penalty as he was involved in a scary airborne incident with Will Power’s Penske. Conway lost control of his car on track and spun, before Power collided into the spinning wreck and tipped Conway into a fearsome airborne crash. Luckily both were unscathed after the incident, as the safety car controlled the field for the next 10 laps.

The race was restarted for only 2 more laps, before Ana Beatriz caused the third caution of the day. She spun her car, and suffered light damage however she was able to rejoin the race several laps behind the leader. Whilst under the caution, Andretti and Hinchcliffe opted to pit.

As the race was restarted, Scott Dixon lead at the front. However several laps later both Dixon and Franchitti pitted thus handing the lead down to Takuma Sato, who became the first Japanese driver to lead the Indy 500 since Toranosuke Takagi in 2003. Another caution was caused only moments after these green flag stops, as Sebastien Saavedra slowed down on the slip road due to mechanical issues. This therefore enabled the majority of the field to pit.

Upon the restart, Dario Franchitti miraculously lead at the front after carving his way through the pack after his previous pit-lane spin. Both he and his team-mate Dixon happily jostled for the lead several times, before the fifth caution was caused as Josef Newgarden pulled to the side of the track to retire. Once again the majority of the field pitted under caution, with Dixon leading on the restart.

As the race once again restarted, the two Ganassi’s of Dixon and Franchitti resumed battling for the lead, before the Kiwi made Indy 500 history by taking a record breaking 30th lead change throughout the race. With many drivers’ concerned about fuel consumption, their fears were abolished when Ed Carpenter caused yet another caution thus enabling the leaders to conserve fuel.

With only 20 laps remaining, it was set to be a straight fight for the win as Kanaan amazingly came from 6th to the lead on the restart before yet another caution as Andretti crashed on lap 187. As the debris was cleared, tension was mounting as a 6-lap shootout began on lap 194. Franchitti and Dixon once again swapped positions at the top, before Sato stormed to 2nd as the white flag emerged to signify the final lap. Heading to the first corner, and disaster struck for the Japanese driver as he tried to pass Dario for the lead and spun in the wall.

In utter confusion and thrilling excitement, Dario Franchitti won by default as the caution flag came out. This is Dario Franchitti’s third Indy 500 win, and his first of the 2012 IndyCar Series season.

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