Team Chevy's Tony Kanaan wins his first Indianapolis 500 (and Ilmor's 18th!)!
Perseverance has a name: Tony Kanaan. The much-admired KV Racing Technology driver has finally driven down Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this past Memorial Day weekend.
Kanaan started the Indianapolis 500 in 12th position and led for 34 of the nail-biting 200-lap race. He made his critical move on the lap-197 restart to take the lead and took the checkered flag with the race finishing under caution.
"Congratulations to Tony Kanaan and the No. 11 Chevrolet-powered KV Racing Technology team for winning the 2013 Indianapolis 500," said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. "Tony drove a great race, and the team executed flawlessly. Their total focus was on driving to the front of the field. Tony and the No. 11 team demonstrated tremendous teamwork, perseverance and a never-give-up-attitude all day."
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LAT USA Photography for Chevrolet Racing |
Rookie Carlos Munoz of Andretti Autosport had a fantastic run in his first Indianapolis 500, finishing second and leading five times for 12 laps. Defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport finished third, while teammate Marco Andretti took fourth place to give Andretti Autosport an impressive 2-3-4 finish in the race.
The 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 was a fast-paced and crowd-thrilling race, featuring astonishing on-track action with a record-breaking 68 lead changes among 14 drivers. The race was slowed only five times by caution for a total of 21 laps run under the yellow flag.
Kanaan's victory also marked several other landmark achievements for Chevrolet and Ilmor:
- Ilmor's18th Indy 500 victory
- Chevrolet's 8th Indy 500 win with partner Ilmor; the first was 1988 with Rick Mears (Ilmor's first Indy 500 win)
- Chevrolet and Ilmor's 4th race win of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar season
- Chevrolet now leads the Series in both Driver's and Manufacturer's Championship points
The next race on the IZOD IndyCar Series is the Dual in Detroit Chevrolet Belle Isle Detroit Grand Prix on June 1st and 2nd (Ilmor and Chevy's home town!).
ABC will broadcast the event live at 3:30 pm ET on both race days. (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640). In addition, radio broadcasts will take place on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com.