Simon Pagenaud holds off Alexander Rossi to win first Indy 500

Simon Pagenaud held off Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato to win his first career Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. The 2016 IndyCar Series champion finished just two-tenths of a second ahead of Rossi.

Pagenaud and Rossi traded the lead throughout the final 10 laps of the race after Pagenaud dominated most of the day after starting on the pole. It appeared during a point that Pagenaud may have to conserve fuel which would have benefitted Rossi, however a late caution allowed the two drivers to settle things head to head.

The win is the second straight for Roger Penske, after Will Power took the checkered flag last season. Penske now has a total of 18 wins, which is the most by any team. It’s the 13th win of Pagenaud’s career.

Pagenaud became the Vegas favorite at 7-to-1 to win alongside Power after claiming pole position. However Power eventually became the sole favorite with Pagenaud dropping to 8-to-1. Power bounced back from a costly pit road penalty and finished the race fifth.

2019 Indianapolis 500 results

1. Simon Pagenaud 
2. Alexander Rossi 
3. Takuma Sato 
4. Josef Newgarden 
5. Will Power 
6. Ed Carpenter 
7. Santino Ferrucci 
8. Ryan Hunter-Reay 
9. Tony Kanaan 
10. Conor Daly 
11. James Hinchcliffe 
12. James Davison 
13. Ed Jones 
14. Spencer Pigot 
15. Matheus Leist 
16. Pippa Mann 
17. Scott Dixon 
18. Helio Castroneves 
19. Sage Karam 
20. JR Hildebrand 
21. Jack Harvey 
22. Oriol Servia 
23. Marcus Ericsson 
24. Jordan King 
25. Charlie Kimball 
26. Marco Andretti 
27. Graham Rahal 
28. Felix Rosenqvist 
29. Zach Veach 
30. Sebastien Bourdais 
31. Kyle Kaiser 
32. Ben Hanley 
33. Colton Herta