Race highlights:
Fan version (longer):
Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2012 Indycar championship, after a dramatic final race which saw his rival Will Power spin out into the wall on lap 56. Penske repaired Power's car enough to let him run 12 more laps and classify him 24th, meaning Hunter-Reay needed 5th or better to take the title. He finished 4th, after Takuma Sato once again crashed out (I'm not sure he's actually finished an oval race yet in Indycar
). Marco Andretti was penalised for jumping a late restart to assist his teammate in the championship fight, dropping him to 8th. Mike Conway's substitute Wade Cunningham brought the sole AJ Foyt car home in 14th. Simon Pagenaud took rookie of the year honours, placing 5th overall in the championship with 387 points after a run to 15th in the race.
Oval specialist Ed Carpenter took his second Indycar win at the last moment by diving past Dario Franchitti, who along with teammate Scott Dixon had been at the front of the pack in the latter stages. Katherine Legge showed greatly improved form by finishing 9th. KV Racing had a disappointing outing, Barrichello and Viso both parking their cars with mechanical problems while Tony Kanaan had a dramatic crash with 10 laps remaining causing a red flag period. Ryan Briscoe also hit the wall but managed to continue after repairs, finishing 6 laps down in 17th place. Oriol Servia was also impeded by mechanical troubles, ending the race 19th after a lengthy pitstop.
Reactions:
Full race results:
1. Ed Carpenter 2hrs 57mins 34.7433secs (250 laps)
2. Dario Franchitti +1.9132s
3. Scott Dixon +2.6091s
4. Ryan Hunter-Reay +3.0477s
5. Helio Castroneves +4.1933s
6. Graham Rahal +5.4381s
7. Takuma Sato + 1 lap / Spun off
8. Marco Andretti + 1 lap
9. Katherine Legge + 1 lap
10. Charlie Kimball + 1 lap
11. John Hildebrand + 2 laps
12. James Jakes + 2 laps
13. James Hinchcliffe + 3 laps
14. Wade Cunningham + 4 laps
15. Simon Pagenaud + 4 laps
16. Josef Newgarden + 6 laps
17. Ryan Briscoe + 6 laps
18. Tony Kanaan + 10 laps - Spun off
19. Oriol Servia + 19 laps
20. Alex Tagliani + 21 laps - Mechanical
21. Sebastian Saavedra + 132 laps - Mechanical
22. Rubens Barrichello + 143 laps - Mechanical
23. Justin Wilson + 170 laps - Mechanical
24. Will Power + 184 laps - Spun off / Collision damage
25. Ernesto Viso + 185 laps - Mechanical
26. Simona de Silvestro + 234 laps - Mechanical