Rinus van Kalmthout throws away his own chances in Indy500, win for Josef Newgarden | formula 1

To win. That was his plan. Or certainly participate deep into the final for the victory. That’s where Rinus van Kalmthout aimed his arrows after he qualified second for the Indy 500. But only in the first part of ‘The Greatest Racing Spectacle on Earth’ did the driver from Hoofddorp play a leading role. The Ed Carpenter Racing man even took the lead for a while, where he exchanged penny with pole-sitter Alex Palou.

Until, on the 97th lap, when it came out of the pit lane, things went terribly wrong for the Dutch hope in IndyCar. At the same time driving away with Palou, Van Kalmthout lost control of his car on cold tires, after which his nose broke out to the left due to wheelspin and he pushed Palou towards the wall.

A rookie mistake that he can no longer make in his fourth year, of course, with which he seemed to thwart the winning chances of the favorite Spaniard and also immediately killed his own race. He rightly ran into a penalty, a drive-through penalty, after which the Dutchman had to resume the race in the back field. From 28th position he started a difficult race to catch up, after which he moved up to the top 10.

After a late red flag for a crash in which a wheel that came loose miraculously missed the crowd, the 107th running of the Indy500 was decided in an eight-lap “sprint race” of sorts. Van Kalmthout started that dessert from ninth position, but he did not get further than tenth place. The victory went to Josef Newgarden, after an ultimate attempt to overtake Marcus Ericsson.

The fact that the Dutch participant eventually managed to make up for so much damage, said a lot about the speed that was indeed in his car. It made his mistake halfway even more painful. Beforehand, Van Kalmthout was carefully named among the favourites, but he ended up as one of the losers. Stay out of trouble, be patient, wait for the last 50 laps, Rinus ‘Veekay’ Van Kalmthout mentioned exactly what he had to do in an interview with this site prior to his fourth Indy500. The experience of the previous three races, with eighth place as a best result, should help him. But after the third pit stop he threw away his own chances in a busy pit lane.

Cry out and start again for the North Hollander, who is having a difficult season in America anyway. Only on the ovals do the cars of Ed Carpenter Racing have something to crumble in the milk. That’s why all arrows were aimed at the Indy500, by far the most important Sunday of the season.