Auto Racing

It wasn't easy for the Colombian, but after a long break from IndyCar, Juan Pablo Montoya collected his second Borg-Warner trophy, 15 years after his first Indianapolis 500 victory.

The 99th running of the event was a battle to the end that saw two Team Penske drivers, Montoya and Will Power take on Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon and Charlie Kimball for the win. In the final laps, the Ganassi drivers didn't have anything left, as the Penske teammates went all out for the win.

Montoya made his move into first place over Power with three laps to go, and never relinquished the lead. He weaved from the inside to outside blocking whatever draft he could, preventing Power from catching any steam.

Montoya led the race for only 9 laps, but it was the final two that counted when it mattered the most. Out of those front runners, it was Montoya that started in the middle of the pack in 15th, dropping down to the 30th position early on after contact with Andretti Autosport's Simona de Silverstro. After several pit stops, Montoya made his move through the field, eventually catching up to the top-10 at the middle of the race.

“What really matters is the last 15 laps,” said Montoya. “That was fun racing. Probably the best racing. Between Will (Power) and (Scott) Dixon, we have a lot of respect for each other.”

Kimball would end up in third place, while the pole sitter Dixon took fourth. The best Honda finish came from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing's Graham Rahal in fifth, ahead of Andretti Autosport and fellow-Honda driver Marco Andretti.

Chip Ganassi's Tony Kanaan and Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud, both had cars to win the race, but had to bow out of the running late. Kanaan hit the wall on lap 153 ending his day; while Pagenaud clipped Kimball's car causing front wing damage and dropping to the mid pack around lap 170. Pagenaud would climb his way back for a 10th place finish.

The only Canadian in the field, after James Hinchcliffe's serious practice injury was Alex Tagliani for A.J. Foyt Racing. He would end up being the top driver for his team with a 17th place finish, avoiding any incidents, save from a gear box issue in the warm-up lap.

With this victory, Montoya becomes the first driver with two victories on the season, and now leads the IndyCar points race with 272 points, 25 points over Power, the defending champion.

It was a week of crashes and rule changes heading into the qualifying session of the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500 that saw three Chevrolet cars flipped over during practice. Qualifying went on without any incident, seeing Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon take the pole for the second time in his illustrious career.

But as practice resumed the following day, it was Canada's James Hinchcliffe, a Honda driver for the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team that would have the ugliest and most violent crash on the 2.5-mile oval track. The incident took place rounding turn three, when Hinchcliffe's car had a right-front suspension failure and at top speed connected with the barrier. The No. 5 Arrow Dallara-Honda flipped over for a second, eventually landing upright before coming to a stop. Hinchcliffe was unable to leave the car as sheetmetal pinned him in before the Holmatro safety team could arrive.  

According to Racer.com, Hinchcliffe's injuries were severe to his right leg and upper left thigh, leading to surgery later that Monday. From that same source, it appears that a steel wishbone from the race car entered and exited his right leg and upper left thigh causing massive blood loss. The safety team and doctors were quickly on hand to cut parts of the car off to get Hinchcliffe out, and rush him by ground transportation to the IU Health Methodist Hospital, while stopping the bleeding in the process.

Hinchcliffe is currently in stable condition and undergoing further evaluation at the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.

It doesn't look promising for Hinchcliffe to get back into the cockpit in the short future with an IndyCar announcement that he's been ruled out of competition “for the foreseeable future.” This undoubtedly means no Indianapolis 500, nor Honda Indy Toronto. For now, let's hope for a safe recovery for the Oakville, Ontario native and best wishes to him and his family and close friends.