Only once before has a Swede won the Indy 500 – one of the world’s most classic races. In 1999, Kenny Bräck had to stand at the top of the podium and now it has happened again.
After 200 highly dramatic laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Marcus Ericsson first drove over the finish line and got to drink the traditional victory milk on Victory Lane.
– Everyone in my family is here and I won. I can not believe it, says Ericsson with tears in his eyes in the victory interview in Viaplay’s broadcast.
Felix Rosenqvist impressed he too and became four.
Ericsson started as fifth and in other words had a good starting position. And he stayed at the top for a long time and well.
With a little less than half the race, however, Ericsson lost some places in connection with a depot stop and came out as the eighth driver. At the same time, compatriot Felix Rosenqvist had advanced to fifth place.
Veteran Scott Dixon, who was sniffing at the victory, drove too fast during his last depot stop with about 25 laps left and had to return to the depot – and thus he was excluded from the victory battle.
Ericsson had then advanced in the field and in the end both Swedish drivers had bids for absolute top positions.
But in the end it became really dramatic. Jimmie Johnson crashed with four laps left, after which it became a red flag. The race was interrupted briefly to start again a few minutes later.
This made it tougher for Ericsson, which thus had to work really hard to keep the cars behind it.
– I could not believe it. You can not take anything for granted and there were laps left. I asked that it not be a new yellow flag. It was hard to find focus again but I knew the car was amazing. Everyone has done an incredible job but it was still difficult. I needed to do everything I could to keep the rest behind, says Ericsson.
But in the end, it was the Swede who got to cheer the loudest. The 31-year-old from Kumla drove in as the winner and thus takes his biggest win in his career.