12 Memorable Moments From The 2015 Indianapolis 500

Two races from the prestigious ‘Triple Crown of Motorsport’ took place on Sunday, with Nico Rosberg storming to his third consecutive Monaco Grand Prix victory and the 99th Indy 500 taking place at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It was a dramatic 200-lap race, jam-packed with incidents, overtakes, battles and drama. We witnessed the fourth closest finish in the event’s history, with Juan Pablo Montoya taking his second Indy 500 win – 15 years after his first triumph there. Here are 12 memorable moments:

Mari Hulman George has been giving the iconic “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines” command since 1997, but someone attempted to steal her thunder this year. She was having none of it.

2. Off they go

There is something truly special about seeing 32 cars (it should have been 33, but Conor Daly failed to start thanks to a fuel cell leak) powering across the start/finish line to kick off the Indy 500, at crazy speeds and running wheel-to-wheel. Scott Dixon started on pole position and led the field into Turn 1.

Last year, it took 149 laps before the first caution period took place. In 2015, it took just a few corners. Takuma Sato and Sage Karam made contact at the exit of Turn 1, with both drivers hitting the wall and the latter retiring. Not a great start…

The restart was initially waved off, thanks to Montoya suffering damage to the rear of his car. Simona de Silvestro made contact with the Team Penske driver under yellows, meaning both had to pit for repairs and dropped to the back of the pack.

The draft proved to be very effective and there was plenty of action in the early stages of the race, with lots of changes in the order – including Dixon and Tony Kanaan fighting for the lead.

Bryan Clauson exited the race on the 64th lap after hitting the wall at Turn 4, bringing out another caution.

The race interrupted again on lap 113 after contact between Ed Carpenter and Oriol Servia at the first corner, pitching both into the wall. The former was attempting an overtake on the inside when the collision occurred.

As drivers pitted under yellows, James Davison was released into the path of fellow Dale Coyne Racing driver Pippa Mann. He spun into two of his team-mate Tristan Vautier’s pit crew members, in what was an unfortunate incident. Greg Senerius was seen and released, while Daniel Jang suffered a broken ankle.

Early front-runner Kanaan retired in spectacular fashion with around 50 laps to go, after a twitch caused him to lose control and hit the wall. Charlie Kimball was the race leader when the Indy 500 resumed.

The biggest crash of the race took place with 25 laps remaining, after contact sent Sebastián Saavedra and Jack Hawksworth into the wall. Stefano Coletti couldn’t avoid them and hit Saavedra – who suffered a foot contusion – hard.

The race got back underway with 15 laps to go, with the lead changing several times as Montoya, Will Power and Dixon battled over first place. It eventually became a two-way fight, with Dixon falling behind Kimball.

The former F1 driver got past Power with three laps to go and just managed to cling on. It was a spectacular end to the race, with Montoya taking his second Indy 500 win (he first won it in 2000) by just one tenth of a second – the fourth closest finish at the event. Power and Kimball completed the top three, ahead of Dixon, Graham Rahal, Marco Andretti and Helio Castroneves.