Takuma Sato has won the 2017 Indianapolis 500 from veteran Penske driver Helio Castroneves.
Sato made the crucial pass on the three-time winner with three laps remaining and managed to fend off Castroneves' advances to hold on and drink the quart of milk in victory lane.
It's only Sato's second win in IndyCar, in a career characterised by risk-taking maneuvers. He was in the running to win the event in 2012, but a late move gone wrong saw him crash out.
"Unbelievable feeling. It was a tough race," Sato said.
"It is beautiful - I grabbed something I left behind in 2012."
It was a race of attrition and cruel circumstance for many, with Scott Dixon and Fernando Alonso the leading pair of casualties. As previously reported, Dixon's race ended with a sickening crash that saw his car almost split in half. Alonso meanwhile lasted for most of the race, leading patches and setting the quickest laps on track, until his engine blew with 20 laps to go.
Other leading contenders that failed to finish included Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Josef Newgarden (Power and Newgarden two of the leading losses in a four-car wreck near the end). Their failures were a legacy of a chaotic race; underlined by some of the stats. The race set a new record for most race leaders, at 15, while there were also 35 lead changes, and a whopping 50 laps under caution.
Among the other drivers unlucky to be closer to the leaders were Alexander Rossi and Max Chilton. Both drivers spent much of the race in the lead, with Chilton leading more laps than anyone else, but ultimately neither had the pace to run with Sato, Castroneves, and the third-placed 22-year-old Ed Jones.
Chilton ended up finishing fourth, with Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Rossi, Marco Andretti, Gabby Chaves, and Carlos Munoz rounding out the top 10.
Results
| 1. Takuma Sato | 200 laps |
| 2. Helio Castroneves | +0.2011 |
| 3. Ed Jones | +0.5278 |
| 4. Max Chilton | +1.1365 |
| 5. Tony Kanaan | +1.6472 |
| 6. Juan Pablo Montoya | +1.7154 |
| 7. Alexander Rossi | +2.4222 |
| 8. Marco Andretti | +2.5410 |
| 9. Gabby Chaves | +3.8311 |
| 10. Carlos Munoz | +4.5319 |