INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, 27 May 2003 — Gil de Ferran spoiled Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves’ shot at history on Sunday, edging the two-time defending champion in the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Castroneves was attempting to become the first driver in history to win the race three years in a row, but de Ferran edged his fellow Brazilian by 0.2990 seconds and pushed team owner Roger Penske’s record for wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to 13.
“The real thing that helped us was our fuel economy,” Penske said. “It kept us in great track position. The No. 13 is 13, but it was lucky for us today. It’s great to see Gil finally get into victory lane here.”
The “three-peat” did not happen for Castroneves, but it was the biggest victory of de Ferran’s career as he got to chug from the traditional bottle of milk in victory lane.
“I love milk,” de Ferran said.
With that, de Ferran broke down in tears in victory lane as he hugged his wife, Angela.
Tony Kanaan made it a Brazilian sweep of the top three spots.
Tomas Scheckter of South Africa and rookie Tora Takagi of Japan rounded out the top five.
Alex Barron of the United States was sixth.
A dramatic crash involving rookie Dan Wheldon on lap 187 set up the race to the checkered flag.
The yellow flag waved with de Ferran in front of Castroneves, Kanaan, Scheckter, Takagi and Hornish.
Castroneves was in the lead when he made his final pit stop of the race on lap 167.
