Sato wins Indianapolis 500

Takuma Sato took a historic first Japanese victory in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500, while neither the Australians nor Scott Dixon made the finish.

The ex-Formula 1 driver Sato passed three-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves with five laps remaining and held the top spot to the finish.

Castroneves finished 0.2011s behind, with Ed Jones third and Max Chilton fourth.

Pole winner Dixon was taken out in a horrific airborne crash in which he may have sustained an ankle injury.

Australians James Davison and Will Power were also eliminated in an accident later in the race.

Dixon took the lead at the start, while Power drove an amazing first lap to move from ninth to second. Tony Kanaan was another early mover, taking the lead from Dixon on Lap 6 after starting seventh. Meanwhile, Alonso dropped from fifth place to ninth.

Power quickly began to drop, a legacy of brushing the wall exiting Turn 2 during that incredible opening lap. He dropped to 10th after 10 laps, while Alonso began to move forward, passing Marco Andretti for sixth on Lap 20.

Dixon dropped to third on Lap 25 as defending Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi moved up to lead the chase of Kanaan. Dixon struggled with severe oversteer at the end of the stint, losing additional places to Ed Carpenter, Alonso and JR Hildebrand before Kanaan initiated the first round of green flag pit stops at the end of Lap 28.

Juan Pablo Montoya stretched his fuel to Lap 32 but stalled trying to exit the pits, negating his advantage. Once the first round of stops was completed, Carpenter led from Rossi, Alonso and Kanaan, with Dixon seventh and Power tenth.

Dixon was starting to move back up when he was swept in to a terrifying accident triggered by backmarker Jay Howard that caused the race to be red-flagged for 21 minutes to repair fences.

After the restart, the Andretti Autosport Hondas took command, running in 1-2-3-4 formation with the lead swapped between Rossi, Hunter-Reay and Sato.

A Turn 3 crash by Conor Daly that also took out rookie Jack Harvey brought out the next caution, with Sato holding the lead when racing resumed on Lap 76, only to be retaken on the restart by Rossi.

Hunter-Reay took over the lead on Lap 79, only for the caution flag to fly three laps later when Sato’s car dropped a piece of debris on the track. Andretti dropped to the back of the pack on this stop due to a rear wing change.

Power and Max Chilton elected not to pit, putting them 1-2 but also locking them into an alternate pit stop strategy for the rest of the race.

A new threat emerged when Castroneves took the lead on Lap 96, but he would have to make his next pit stop some seven laps earlier then the bulk of the field.

An important milestone was reached when 101 of the 200 laps were completed, meaning the race would count as complete if potential rain materialised.

Castroneves gave up the lead when he pitted on Lap 104, leaving the Andretti cars of Rossi and Hunter-Reay to fight for the lead with Alonso leading the chase.

Rossi was the first of the leaders to pit, from second place on Lap 112, with leader Hunter-Reay and several others joining him a lap later.

Hunter-Reay emerged from the stops with a 3.4s lead over Rossi, the first significant margin a leader enjoyed all day.

Davison, subbing for the injured Sebastien Bourdais, was on the brink of being black-flagged after incurring a loose front wing when he hit the back of Oriol Servia’s car.

Buddy Lazier’s crash and a subsequent full-course caution gave Davison the reprieve he needed to pit for a new nose without losing a lap.

Surprisingly, most of the leaders stayed out during this caution, including Castroneves and Power, who were two-thirds of the way through a 30-lap stint.

Castroneves was particularly fortunate because he served a drive-through penalty earlier in the race but was saved from losing a lap when the caution flew shortly thereafter.

Alonso had just passed Hunter-Reay for the lead on Lap 130 when there was yet another caution for debris on the track.

Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud pitted during this caution, committing to a full-bore fuel saving strategy, but the leaders stayed out, elevating Ganassi’s Max Chilton to the top spot.

On Lap 137, Hunter-Reay suffered the first mechanical failure of the race, losing an engine while running in third place after leading the race on seven occasions.

The restart immediately resulted in another yellow when Pippa Mann caused a bottleneck and Carpenter sustained a broken front wing.

The final round of pit stops started on Lap 166, leaving Davison in the lead. Almost simultaneously, Charlie Kimball’s Honda engine blew, bringing out yet another caution.

Lap 168 brought full field pit stops, with Chilton retaining the lead over the Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Ed Jones, then Castroneves, Davison and Sato for the Lap 171 restart.

The racing got frenetic at this point, as Chilton retained the lead while Sato moved from fifth to second in the space of eight laps.

Then Alonso experienced that all-too-familiar feeling of a Honda engine expiring after he had worked his way up to sixth place after taking the restart ninth.

“I’m so sorry, man,” team owner Michael Andretti told Alonso over the radio.

The near capacity crowd at IMS gave Alonso a warm round of applause after an impressive drive that netted the Spaniard an unrepresentative 23rd place finish.

The cars had barely restarted before a multi-car crash unfolded on Lap 184 that eliminated both Davison and Power.

Davison appeared to pinch Oriol Servia at the apex of Turn 1, spinning both cars into the wall while Power and James Hinchcliffe collided moving to the inside trying to avoid the accident.

Chilton led from the restart but was quickly challenged by Sato.

But Castroneves passed them both, putting himself in position to earn a record-tying fourth Indianapolis victory.

Sato prevailed down the stretch, relegating Castroneves to second for the third time in my career.

The winning pass came in Turn 1 on Lap 196.

“(It’s an) Unbelievable feeling,” exclaimed Sato in victory lane.

“I can’t say enough to the whole team. Look at these guys, fabulous job; Michael Andretti, Andretti Autosports, and everyone at Andretti.

“This time I was pointing in right direction at Turn 1, wasn’t I?” remarked the Japanese driver of his last lap crash while contending for the win in 2012.

“It’s beautiful! I grabbed something I left over in 2012 and I can’t thank enough everyone for their support.”

Results: Indianapolis 500

(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone

Championship points: After Round 6