Marcus Ericsson wins 2022 Indianapolis 500

Marcus Ericsson obtained to drink the milk.

Sweden can now mark two wins on their Indy 500 record as Ericsson was victorious after an intense race on Sunday afternoon. The final two laps have been adrenaline-filled for the Swede, as he battled alongside Pato O’Ward , following a crimson flag thrown with solely 5 laps to go.

The 106th working of the best spectacle in racing began with dramatics proper off the bat.

Nearly twenty-five minutes into the race, 21-year-old Rinus VeeKay crashed out. The Dutch favourite’s gearbox exploded after a giant hole between himself and Alex Palou, as he obtained unfastened down in the course of flip two.

“I feel I had a very good shot at a very good end, possibly a win, however it caught me off guard,” VeeKay stated in an unique NBC Sports activities interview.

The hotter and windier the climate, the extra intense the race grew to become. Actually, by the tip of the race the observe reached a scorching 119 levels.

Just like VeeKay, England’s Callum Ilott crashed out of the Indy 500 throughout lap 70 of 200. It was an enormous hit for the rookie driver. What began as an amazing race for Palou, ended up changing into fairly painful for the Spanish driver because of the premature warning.

By lap 80, Scott Dixon, Conor Daly and O’Ward have been confidently main the herd.

With 106 laps in, crushing disappointment adopted Romain Grosjean as he posed the third crash-out of the day. The Swiss-French driver’s automobile shed layers as he additionally misjudged flip two, which stumped lots of the drivers Sunday.

By the midway level of the race, O’Ward, Dixon, Daly, and Santino Ferrucci have been in competition for the lead, with Tony Kanaan and Felix Rosenqvist not far behind.

New Zealand driver Scott McLaughlin’s race got here to an finish after lap 152, as a depraved wiggle on the apex of flip 4 introduced the “Yellow Submarine” to its demise. The mixture of a brutal angle and large entry pace sadly ended McLaughlin’s time on the Indy 500.

There has by no means been a Mexican driver win the Indianapolis 500, so O’Ward’s efficiency was nail-biting, as he fled forward of Dixon and Rosenqvist after 164 laps.

Dangerous luck struck once more for Dixon as he acquired a pit street rushing penalty at lap 176, pushing him out of competition in maybe probably the most unlucky second of his storied profession.

Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Ericsson, Alexander Rossi and Daly gave the impression to be probably the most promising finishers with solely 20 laps to go. Ericsson closed on Rosenqvist to take the lead within the Indy 500 with solely 16 laps to go.

With 10 laps to go, Ericsson held first with a steep lead, O’Ward second, Kanaan third and Rosenqvist fourth. Jimmie Johnson, Ericsson’s teammate, skilled a giant head-on impression with solely six laps to go – leading to a crimson flag. With a 3 second lead and 5 laps to go, there was fairly actually nothing much less Ericsson needed to see.

The ultimate restart commenced with the waving of the inexperienced flag, and Ericsson, O’Ward, Kanaan and Rosenqvist nonetheless within the working for first. With two laps to go, Ericsson and O’Ward went head-to-head, however Ericsson took the lead ultimately.

The victory marked the third of the 31-year-old Ericsson’s IndyCar profession, however his first on an oval observe.