Pagenaud wins inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis

[Source: INDYCAR press release]

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Note: For full results, please visit our Grand Prix of Indianapolis Event Summary.

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 10, 2014) – Simon Pagenaud had just enough fuel left to make history, winning the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Pagenaud, who started fourth in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car, held off Ryan Hunter-Reay by .8906 of a second for his third career Verizon IndyCar Series victory and a charging Helio Castroneves, who was celebrating his 39th birthday, by 1.8244 seconds.

Like Pagenaud, Hunter-Reay’s No. 28 DHL car was starved for fuel after completing 28 laps. Castroneves, who started 10th in the No. 3 Verizon Team Penske car, had plenty of fuel and was closing in the final laps, but couldn’t get around Hunter-Reay.

Hunter-Reay finished second, followed by Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais and Charlie Kimball.

Oriol Servia was leading with five laps to go but had to pit before he ran out of fuel. That handed the lead to Pagenaud, who also was at risk of running short.

The start was marred by a massive crash when polesitter Sebastian Saavedra stalled and was hit hard in the rear by the cars of Carlos Munoz and Mikhail Aleshin.

There were 12 lead changes, and Pagenaud inherited the point for the duration on Lap 78 when Oriol Servia had to make a fuel stop. He led Hunter-Reay across the line by 2.8 seconds on Lap 80 and coaxed the Honda-powered car to navigate the final laps without incident or stalling.

Both Hunter-Reay and Pagenaud gained on championship points leader Will Power, who started fifth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car and placed a season-low eighth. Power (149) leads Hunter-Reay by one point and Pagenaud by six heading into the points-laden Indianapolis 500 on May 25.

GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS POST-RACE NOTES:

This is Simon Pagenaud’s first win of 2014 and the third win of his Verizon IndyCar Series career. His last win came at Baltimore in 2013. Pagenaud has finished in the top-5 in all four races this season

This is Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports’ third win in the Verizon IndyCar Series. All have come with Simon Pagenaud.

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished second, it is his third podium finish in four starts this season.

Helio Castroneves finished third on his 39th birthday. It is his second podium of the season after also finishing third at St. Petersburg.

Sebastien Bourdais finished a season-best fourth place.

Charlie Kimball finished a second-best fifth place.

Jack Hawksworth led his first 31 laps in the Verizon IndyCar Series which was most laps led in race.

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