Marco Andretti
Marco is the son of Michael and the grandson of Mario. He has qualified for the Indy 500 seven times.
2005 Indy Pro Series: Marco's first trip to Indianapolis had him finish 16th, two laps down, in the 2005 Freedom 100 for the Indy Pro Series. Marco marked the first Andretti win at the Brickyard since 1969 by winning the 2005 Liberty Challenge Indy Pro Series race on the infield road course three weeks later.
2006: Marco joined his father's Andretti Green Racing IndyCar Series team for 2006. His first Indy 500 saw him narrowly miss a historic victory. A crash by Felipe Giaffone instigated a caution period on lap 191. Marco's father Michael took the lead on lap 194 under caution when cars ahead of him made pit stops. At this stage, Marco was immediately behind his father in second place. One lap after returning to green-flag racing, Marco put a passing move on his father and took the lead, seemingly on the way to victory. However Sam Hornish, Jr., recovering from a penalty earlier in the race, was closing quickly.
Michael attempted to block Hornish as much as possible for his son, but Hornish got by and drove up behind Marco with 2 laps to go. Marco held Hornish off as long as possible, however Hornish managed a last gasp pass in the last 400 feet before the finish line winning by 0.0635 seconds. It was the second-closest finish in the history of the Indy 500, behind only the 1992 race. Many consider this to be the saddest event in Michael Andretti's racing history, with a father-son 1st-2nd finish being spoiled by Hornish, driving for long-time rival car owner Roger Penske.
Third-place finisher Michael had high praise for his son: "I felt so bad for Marco, but I'm so proud. He drove a hell of a race. I drove with him a hell of a lot in that race. He drove like a champion. He drove like he's been out there 10 years." But Marco wanted more: "Second's nothing," he said. Clearly, the disappointment hasn't softened. "I took a lot of criticism for my reaction then," he says. "But I don't see much value in second place. I'm still bothered by it. I never lifted. If I had put my foot down any more, it would have gone through the floorboard. It was all about speed at the end, and I have no idea how they could have put up the numbers they did on that last lap. It's still fishy." He is asked what the Hornish team could have done. "There are things," he says. With that, the topic, still obviously a bad memory, is closed.
2007: In a rain-interrupted race, Marco was a front runner for most of the afternoon. Marco took the lead on lap 102 during a caution, and rain was swiftly approaching the Speedway. Since the race was beyond the halfway point, if rain washed out the remained of the race, it could have been declared official. With the weather in mind, the restart on lap 107 could have decided the race. Tony Kanaan got the jump into turn 1 on the restart, and took the lead. The red flag came out for rain on lap 113 with Marco sitting in second place. Three hours later, however, the track was dried, and the race resumed. Late in the race, Marco was involved in a spectacular crash with Dan Wheldon on the backstretch eliminated him from competition. His car flipped upside down after making contact with Wheldon's wheel, slid to the infield, and then righted itself. Marco was unhurt. The race ended moments later when the rain returned.
2008: Returning for his third Indy 500, Marco posted the fastest practice speed of the month, 228.318 mph, the morning of pole day time trials. Initially a favorite for the front row, his qualifying effort, however, was a visibly disappointing 7th. On race day, Marco was a strong contender, and led in the second half, but was not without incident. On the 106th lap, Marco was battling for second and dove under teammate Tony Kanaan in the third turn. The move unsettled Kanaan's car, and Kanaan slid high and into the wall, then collected the car of Sarah Fisher. Marco was immediately blamed for the crash. While running second on lap 156, Marco pitted and the crew made a "trim" adjustment of his rear wing. The change shuffled him back to 4th, and rendered him uncompetetive for the final few laps. Marco settled for 3rd place.
2009: On the first lap of the race, Mario Moraes drifted to the outside and made contact with Andretti, sending both cars into the wall going into the second turn. Andretti was out of the race before completing a single lap. Neither driver was injured in the collision. But Andretti returned briefly later in the race. Moraes held the view that Andretti ran into him, and both drivers expressed their frustration to the TV crews. Andretti said that Moraes is "clueless," while Moraes believed that Andretti checked down on him.
2010: The entire Andretti Autosport team struggled to get up to speed during time trials, but Marco led the team with a team-best 16th starting position. On race day, he worked himself up to the top 5 late in the race. In the closing laps, Marco got shuffled up to 3rd place as drivers were running low on fuel and being forced to pit, with Marco's car containing barely enough fuel to make it to the finish. Marco slowed to laps in the high 190 mph-range, and coasted on fumes to the final lap. During the last lap, Marco was passed by Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick under yellow resulting in him finishing in an unofficial 6th place. Several hours after the race, however, race officials reviewed the finish and Marco was restored to 3rd place.
2011: For the second year in a row, the entire Andretti Autosport team struggled to get up to speed during time trials. On Bump Day, Marco was bumped from the field, and was in danger of missing the field. He managed to get out on the track before the 6 o'clock gun, and successfully bumped his way into the field - but in the process, bumped out his teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. On race day, he started 27th, and worked his way into the top ten. Marco was called into the pits to top off with fuel during a caution on lap 154, and to make a trim adjustment of the rear wing. The stop put Marco out of sequence with the other leaders, but ended up being a poor decision. Marco lost valuable track position when another caution came out 4 laps later, and the adjustments made his car difficult to handle. He ended up 9th.
2012: The Andretti Autosport cars were fast the whole month. On race day, Marco stormed to the lead and led 59 of the first 90 laps. He faded and eventually smacked the wall on lap 187, ending his run. He ended up a pitiful 24th after having the dominant car.
Indy 500- Races involved in crashes
- 2007, 2009, 2012
Indy 500- Races leading the most laps without winning
- 2012
Read more about this topic: Andretti Family