Simon Pagenaud wins Indianapolis 500, completes May sweep
Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, adding to his win at the IndyCar Grand Prix two weeks ago to complete a "sweep of May," NBC Sports reported.
The race was a close one between Pagenaud and second place finisher Alexander Rossi. After the race restarted with 14 laps to go, the two drivers traded the leading place five times. In total, Pagenaud led for 116 of the 120 total laps of the Indy 500, keeping the lead for the final time in the very last lap. The win is "hard to believe right now, to be honest with you," the Frenchman said in the Winner's Circle. "It's a dream come true, a lifetime of trying to achieve this."
After Rossi's second place, Takuma Sato came in third, followed by Josef Newgarden in fourth and Will Power in fifth. Pagenaud beat Rossi by just 0.2086 seconds. "They did a great job," Rossi said of Pagenaud's team, though he believed that his own team "had the superior car."
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Roger Penske, the owner of Pagenaud's team, expressed his delight at taking another win. "Rossi is one of the best, Simon one of the best," Penske said. "Can you believe it? He won that thing."
Read more about the thrilling race at NBC Sports.
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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.
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