IndyCar

Ericsson defeats O’Ward in late duel to win Indy 500

by Matt Beer
8 min read

Ex-Formula 1 racer Marcus Ericsson took his first oval win in IndyCar’s biggest race as he fended off Pato O’Ward for Indianapolis 500 victory.

The race was restarted for a two-lap shootout after Ericsson’s Ganassi team-mate Jimmie Johnson crashed five laps from the end, with the officials opting for a red flag to ensure the race didn’t end under yellow.

Ericsson had lurked among the frontrunners all day then surged into the net lead by passing Arrow McLaren SP team-mates Felix Rosenqivst and O’Ward in quick succession following the final pitstops.

The Swede then withstood everything O’Ward could throw at him over the sprint to the finish and was looking set for the win even before a last-lap crash by Sage Karam brought out another yellow.

Tony Kanaan gave Ganassi two cars in the top three as he overcame Rosenqvist for third place.

But it was another Ganassi driver who’d looked most likely to win: poleman Scott Dixon.

Despite now having led more Indy 500 laps than any other driver in history, Dixon still only has one win in the event way back in 2008.

He spent the first part of the 2022 race swapping the lead with team-mate Alex Palou and the latter part of it duelling with O’Ward, but then added another chapter to his book of Indy 500 woe by picking up a pitlane speeding penalty at his last stop. He finished 21st.

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Palou dropped out of lead contention when he was penalised for having to stop in a closed pitlane after a heavy crash for Callum Ilott prompted a yellow just as Palou needed to pit. He recovered from the back to ninth.

Andretti Autosport’s top finisher was Alexander Rossi in fifth. Team-mate Romain Grosjean crashed out of his first Indy 500 while Colton Herta was never on the pace in his spare car after his huge Carb Day crash and eventually retired.

Conor Daly surged to the front with a beautifully timed pitstop just before the Ilott yellow and battled with Dixon for a while before finishing sixth.

Last year’s winning team Meyer Shank Racing managed seventh and eighth this time with Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, ahead of Palou and Santino Ferrucci.

Penske was never in the hunt at the front. Pitstop delays cost Josef Newgarden and Will Power ground and they finished only 13th and 15th, while Scott McLaughlin crashed.

The first crasher was front row start Rinus VeeKay, who only made it to lap 30.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 13 2h51m0.643s 40.026s 6 109
2 Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 26 +1.793s 40.038s 7 87
3 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 6 +3.517s 40.372s 6 78
4 Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren SP Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +4.126s 40.202s 6 69
5 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +4.98s 40.514s 6 60
6 Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 7 +5.08s 40.533s 6 57
7 Hélio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +6.561s 40.307s 6 52
8 Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +7.093s 40.563s 6 48
9 Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 47 +8.244s 40.263s 9 56
10 Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +9.833s 40.385s 6 40
11 Juan Pablo Montoya Arrow McLaren SP Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +10.764s 40.644s 6 38
12 J. R. Hildebrand A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +11.655s 40.742s 7 36
13 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +11.827s 40.411s 7 34
14 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +12.425s 40.562s 6 32
15 Will Power Team Penske Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +13.303s 40.182s 7 32
16 David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsport Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +13.628s 40.539s 6 28
17 Kyle Kirkwood A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +14.586s 40.515s 7 26
18 Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +16.331s 40.528s 7 24
19 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 200 0 +16.56s 40.203s 6 31
20 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport Dallara DW12-Honda 200 0 +16.822s 40.921s 6 20
21 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 200 95 +18.124s 40.301s 7 33
22 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta w/ Marco & Curb-Agajanian Dallara DW12-Honda 200 3 +25.2s 40.507s 8 17
23 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 199 0 +1 lap 40.429s 6 14
24 Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 199 0 +1 lap 40.967s 9 12
25 Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Dallara DW12-Honda 199 0 +1 lap 40.257s 7 13
26 Stefan Wilson Dragonspeed / Cusick Motorsports Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 198 0 +2 laps 40.707s 8 10
27 Dalton Kellett A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 198 0 +2 laps 41.085s 8 10
Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara DW12-Honda 193 2 DNF 40.683s 7 12
Scott McLaughlin Team Penske Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 150 0 DNF 40.511s 4 10
Colton Herta Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Dallara DW12-Honda 129 0 DNF 41.431s 7 10
Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Dallara DW12-Honda 105 0 DNF 40.695s 2 14
Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 68 0 DNF 40.705s 1 10
Rinus VeeKay Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara DW12-Chevrolet 38 1 DNF 40.466s 1 21
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