Five weeks after he was acquitted of US Federal tax evasion charges, Brazilian Helio Castroneves won his third Indianapolis 500, but Bathgate’s Dario Franchitti was left ruing the botched pitstop which cost him a second victory in America’s Blue Riband race.
While Castroneves sat in his Penske car with tears rolling down his face, having taken the double-chequered flag ahead of England’s Dan Wheldon in second, Franchitti was instigating an inquiry into what went wrong with his penultimate pitstop.
The 36-year-old Scot entered pitlane in second place, immediately behind his Target Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon, but inexplicably his crew released him while his fuel hose was still attached to the car.
In the time it took him to stop the car before being rolled back into place so the team could unhitch the fuel hose, the 2007 Indy500 winner had slipped to 12th with only 65 of the 200 laps remaining.
“It’s unfortunate because otherwise the pit crew did a brilliant job all day,” Franchitti, who recovered to finish seventh, one place behind Dixon, said immediately afterwards, “but the fuel problem definitely cost me big time.
“The guy sent me off with the fuel hose still fitted to the car and by the time we sorted the problem out I’d slipped to eighth. After that there was no way back; my race was over.”
Polesitter Castroneves, who slipped back early in the race, took the lead with 42 laps of the 2.5-mile superspeedway remaining and was never headed again.
“Boy, this has just been the best month of May of my life,” the Penske driver said after celebrating his third Indy500 victory with the traditional bottle of milk.
“With all the legal stuff, at times I never imagined I’d ever be back enjoying moments like this; but this is just sensational. It’s what sporting dreams are made of.”
JM