Rookie Rossi wins at Indy

Alexander Rossi has just added a spectacular chapter to his already amazing career.

On May 29, 2016, Alexander Rossi started his first Indianapolis 500, driving for Andretti/Herta racing teams. Bryan Herta, former driver, independent team owner had joined the Andretti Autosport stable to run the 500. A one car team for the rest of the year, Herta enjoyed the perks of his longtime friendship with Michael Andretti for the historic 100th running of the greatest spectacle in Motorsports.

Herta's driver had joined the team at the start of the season and had driven the #98 car to finish all races with a 12th place at St. Petersburg, 14th at Phoenix, 29th at Long Beach, 15th at Barber and a 10th place finish the month before at the Grand Prix of Indy on the infield road course at IMS.

Rossi's path to this point had taken him across the pond to try his luck at Formula 1 where he became the first American born F1 driver since Scott Speed. Rossi was an IKF Grand Champion, a semi-finalist in the Red Bull Formula 1 American Drivers search, 5th out of over 2,000. He competed and won in the Skip Barber National Championship, finished 3rd in the points in Formula BMW USA in '07 and 1st in points in '08. In '09 he placed 4th in points in the International Formula Masters Championship, the highest rookie. From there it was onto the Formula 1 ladder system with top 5 season results in the next two years in GP3 (4th) and World Series by Renault (3rd). Next was GP2 Asia and GP2 Europe which led to his first test drives in F1 and races for Formula 1 teams Caterham and Marussia/Manor racing in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Although his interest was always to compete in Formula 1, he signed with Herta's team at the start of the 2016 season while still a reserve driver for Marussia/Manor F1 team. Without any experience in oval racing, Rossi learned on the fly from Herta and in Phoenix competed in his first oval race on the short, banked wild Phoenix track.

During the 500, though, he would have to perform at a style of racing he'd never encountered while at the same time absorbing a crazy strategy call from Herta. Midway through the race and after two disastrous pit stops which included problems with the fuel being delivered (which between the two cost him 50= positions on track), Rossi battled back and drove flawlessly until his team opted for a fuel-conservation strategy. This was new to Rossi, as he'd never contemplated saving fuel during a race (never had to before), while still going fast. In the pre-season, Herta says they brushed on the techniques of fuel-saving in Indycar to give the rookie an idea of what might be asked of him later. Lifting early upon turn entry, using a percentage-based throttle control technique- all new to the mostly European road racing driver.

With the help of his Andretti Autosport teammates, Townsend Bell, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti, the #98 team asked that they allow Rossi to draft with them and save fuel. Also Scott Dixon helped Rossi even though his team was not aligned with AA in any way as Chip Ganassi was a competitor of Andretti's.

With only 10-12 laps left in the race, and with the numbers showing they would not make it to the end on fuel, Bryan Herta made a crazy decision: Use the yellow map for fuel delivery in the car. The yellow map was a diminished fuel level used only during cautions when the cars circulate the track behind the pace car at 75mph! On top of that, Rossi was told to "clutch" the car on the straights and drive the corners. Pit crew members and track marshals looked confused when the 98 passed by without any engine noise, but started again in the turns. Knuckles were white on the pit wall as Rossi took the white flag and the engine sputtered. "Full throttle! Full throttle!", Herta yelled over the radio as he was afraid the car was about to run out and he wanted as much speed as he could to coast over the line if the car ran out. With the 2nd place car of teammate Carlos Munoz a half lap behind, if the car ran out he was hoping he could coast to the finish. It wasn't necessary, Rossi took the white flag at a speed of only 135mph. He crossed the finish one lap later at 179mph. The 2nd and 3rd place cars crossed the line at over 220mph. The pit call had worked and Rossi became the only rookie to win the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves in 2001.

Below is a link to the final few laps as broadcast by ABC television. It is a thrilling conclusion to the race, and an epic win for Alexander Rossi and all at Bryan Herta Motorsports.

-katykarter



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7BZrwSLSZE