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Juan Pablo Montoya wins 2015 Indianapolis 500 for Penske

Juan Pablo Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 after an epic race-long battle between IndyCar powerhouses Penske and Ganassi

The two Chevrolet teams had occupied the top seven places for much of the race, but in the final stages the battle for the win had been whittled down to a four-way fight between Montoya, Will Power (both Penske), Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball (both Ganassi).

The Penskes managed to open a small gap over their Ganassi counterparts in the closing laps, and with three to go Montoya dived past Power on the outside to take the lead into Turn 1.

That should have left him vulnerable to a counter-attack from the Australian, but he managed to keep his team-mate at bay all the way to the end.

The win came 15 years after Montoya's last Indy 500 victory, and he certainly had to work a lot harder for it: early on, he was running last after he was hit from behind by Simona de Silvestro under yellows and needed to pit for a new rear wing assembly.

Later, he lost more time when he overshot his markers during his second fuel stop.

A subsequent caution allowed him to regain a lot of the gap and move back within range of the leaders.

"That was fun," he said. "I knew I had a good car when I came through the field.

"But the fight at the end was hard. It's awesome. I'm looking for the words; it's too much."

Power ended the day with his career-best finish at Indy, but was more focused on how easily the win could have been his.

"Maybe I was a bit nice to Montoya into Turn 1, I lifted," he said.

"I got really close and then I washed out and had to lift.

"That was some serious racing there, a lot of fun. Credit to the team, finishing 1-2.

"Just too much push there. Congrats to Juan, he was strong all day. It sucks finishing second; it's the Indy 500."

Kimball managed to pass Dixon in the closing laps to secure third, leaving the Kiwi - who led a race-high 83 laps - to settle for fourth.

"We had a good restart; was just trying to pace it," Dixon said. "When I really needed to go I just couldn't turn the car.

"As the laps were counting down I was trying to make something happen, but the front wouldn't hang on. Congrats to Juan, he drove a hell of a race."

Tony Kanaan could have been in the mix as well, but he was eliminated from the race when he was caught out by an aero adjustment and spun into the Turn 3 wall at around three-quarter distance.

The Brazilian's accident was just one in a day filled with incidents.

The most serious came late in the race when Jack Hawksworth spun into Sebastian Saavedra, putting both cars into the wall and also leaving Stefano Coletti with nowhere to go but into Saavedra's car.

Saavedra was taken to a nearby hospital for further evaluation of a contusion to his foot, but Hawksworth and Coletti were uninjured.

The other major incident occurred in pitlane, and involved all three of the Dale Coyne Racing cars.

James Davison's car was released into the path of Pippa Mann, and the resultant contact bounced Davison into the pit box ahead, where Tristan Vautier's car was receiving service.

Two of Vautier's crew were hit, with one being checked at the infield medical centre and cleared, and the other taken to hospital with ankle injuries.

INDY 500 RESULT

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 200 3h05m56.5286s
2 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 200 0.1046s
3 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 200 0.7950s
4 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 200 1.0292s
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 200 2.3122s
6 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 200 2.5388s
7 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 200 2.7821s
8 J.R. Hildebrand CFH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 200 3.5631s
9 Josef Newgarden CFH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 200 4.0281s
10 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 200 4.2148s
11 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 200 5.3067s
12 Ryan Briscoe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 200 5.6687s
13 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 200 6.1678s
14 Townsend Bell Dreyer and Reinbold Dallara/Chevrolet 200 8.5005s
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 200 9.6481s
16 Gabby Chaves Bryan Herta Autosport Dallara/Honda 200 10.1016s
17 Alex Tagliani AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 200 11.2151s
18 James Jakes Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 200 12.0431s
19 Simona de Silvestro Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 200 12.7328s
20 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 200 39.8346s
21 Justin Wilson Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 199 1 Lap
22 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 197 3 Laps
23 Sebastian Saavedra Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 175 Contact
24 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 175 Contact
25 Stefano Coletti KV Racing Technology Dallara/Chevrolet 175 Contact
26 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 151 Contact
27 James Davison Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 116 Mechanical
28 Tristan Vautier Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 116 Mechanical
29 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 112 Contact
30 Ed Carpenter CFH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 112 Contact
31 Bryan Clauson KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 61 Contact
32 Sage Karam Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 0 Contact
33 Conor Daly Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 0 Mechanical

LEADING DRIVERS' STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Juan Pablo Montoya 272
2 Will Power 247
3 Scott Dixon 211
4 Helio Castroneves 211
5 Graham Rahal 204
6 Josef Newgarden 173
7 Sebastien Bourdais 161
8 Charlie Kimball 160
9 Marco Andretti 151
10 Tony Kanaan 147
11 Simon Pagenaud 142
12 Ryan Hunter-Reay 130
13 James Hinchcliffe 129
14 Carlos Munoz 122
15 Takuma Sato 106
16 James Jakes 99
17 Gabby Chaves 99
18 Luca Filippi 85
19 Jack Hawksworth 76
20 Stefano Coletti 75

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