Honda notched its 14th Indianapolis 500 win, with Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves scoring the victory – his record-tying fourth win – at The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Starting in the eighth position for his 21st consecutive Indianapolis 500, Castroneves led just 20 laps en route to his fourth 500 historic victory, trading the lead several times with Honda powered Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in the closing stages of the race. Palou would go on to finish second, less than half a second behind the victor Helio Castroneves piloted his Meyer Shank Racing Honda to victory Sunday in the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. It was Honda’s 14th win in the Memorial Day weekend classic in 27 races.
The victory at the 2021 Indianapolis 500 is the first NTT INDYCAR SERIES win for Meyer Shank Racing since joining the series in 2017. In addition to their INDYCAR program, Jim Meyer and Mike Shank run an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi program with the Acura and ARX-05 prototype.
This win makes Helio Castroneves the first driver to win overall at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Indianapolis 500 in the same calendar year. The Brazilian racer previously won at Daytona in the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 in January of 2021.
Second-place finisher Palou claims the point lead leaving Indy, overtaking his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, and Indy 500 polesitter, Scott Dixon 248-212. Honda also leads Chevrolet in the Manufacturers’ Championship, 476-472.
Indianapolis 500 Honda Race Results
| • | 1st Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
| • | 2nd Alex Palou Chip | Ganassi Racing Honda |
| • | 6th Santino Ferrucci | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| • | 10th Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| • | 11th Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| • | 14th Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| • | 16th Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport Honda |
| • | 17th Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing Honda |
| • | 18th Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing Honda |
| • | 19th Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport Honda |
| • | 21st James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport Honda |
| • | 22nd Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport Honda |
| • | 23rd Pietro Fittipaldi | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda |
| • | 28th Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda |
| • | 29th Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport Honda |
| • | 32nd Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda |
| • | 33rd Stefan Wilson | Andretti Autosport Honda |
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship (unofficial, after 6 rounds)
| Honda | 476 pts |
| Chevrolet | 472 |
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship (unofficial, after 6 rounds)
| 1. | Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda | 248 points [1 win] |
| 2. | Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda | 212 [1 race win] |
| 3. | Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP, | 211 [1 race win] |
| 4. | Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet | 201 |
| 5. | Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet | 191 [1 race win] |
“Honda’s great. HPD, because I’ve worked with them for three years and now coming back here with Honda, it’s been absolutely incredible. They sat down with me and we’ve had many meetings. That’s what we need to have. When you have spent so many years with an incredible organization and have their experience and information, you can explore those things. We’re here in victory circle because they’ve done the right things for us,” said Castroneves.
Mike Shank, Meyer Shank Racing Honda team owner, added, “I don’t even know where to start. Helio drove an incredible race-his experience in this race was there for all to see. I’m so proud to have the partnerships that we’ve built to get to this point. That starts with Jim [Meyer], who has made such an impact on this organization since coming on board and goes to AutoNation and SiriusXM, and of course Honda and the folks at HPD have been just amazing. This is going to take a long time to soak in, but right now I just am a little at a loss for words to be standing here right now after winning the Indianapolis 500!”
David Salters, president and technical director, Honda Performance Development, commented, “This is absolutely amazing. It’s great to see the world get back to normal, it was a great crowd at the speedway and they got to see a fairytale ending for Helio. I couldn’t be more pleased, I’m so proud of the team at HPD and everyone that represents Honda and everything they’ve achieved. The Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Indy 500, all out of HPD, in just one year—and all with Helio—it’s amazing. And, of course, massively well done to Mike [Shank]. This is an astonishing achievement and his team simply delivered.”
