Simon Pagenaud heads into the Indy 500 with a 72 point champoinship lead after taking victory at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, his third consecutive victory of the 2016 season following wins in Alabama and Long Beach.
Pagenaud led from the front to finish +4.4748s up on Helio Castroneves with the Team Penske-Chevrolet driver making up 11 places from P13 on the grid, whilst Schmidt Peterson-Honda driver James Hinchliffe completed the podium positions.
The race got off to a rough start at Turn 1. Scott Dixon moved to his left in the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevy and failed to notice team-mate Tony Kanaan in the No. 10. Kanaan tried to avoid Dixon but instead got into the No. 11 KVSH Racing-Chevrolet of Sebastien Bourdais, with both cars ending up against the outside retaining wall.
Whilst Kanaan retired, Bourdais continued before retiring 20 laps later with a mechanical failure.
The race was relatively straight-forward from there, with Pagenaud leading 57 of the 82 laps on the 2.439-mile road course, with a lightning quick four-tyre and fuel stop putting him back in the lead 19 laps from the checkered flag.
Graham Rahal missed out on a podium spot by just two seconds, having come from 24th on the grid to finish fourth ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing's Charlie Kimball in fifth.
Conor Daly was sixth, with the #18 leading 14 laps of the race before falling back.
2016 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race Result
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