INDIANAPOLIS - Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Indianapolis 500, holding off three-time race winner Helio Castroneves over the final hectic laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sato's previous best in seven starts was 13th place. He started from the inside of Row 2 and beat Castroneves by 0.20011 of a second.

Said Castroneves, who was tying to become the fourth four-time winner: "I keep trying. It's unbelievable. I couldn't do what he was doing (on the closing laps)."

Castroneves, who improved 17 places from his startikng position, has finished second three times.

Rookie Ed Jones was third, followed by Max Chilton, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Alexander Rossi, Marco Andretti, Gabby Chaves (an improvement of 16 positions from his start) and Carlos Munoz in the top 10.

It's the third win for Andretti Autosport in the past four Indy 500s.

There were 35 lead changes among a race-record 15 drivers.

© Gannett Co., Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved </s> Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Indianapolis 500, pulling away in the final laps at the 101st running of the race Sunday. Sato passed three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves with five laps remaining and held on for the victory. Castroneves finished second. It was just the second career IndyCar win for Sato, a former Formula One driver. Fernando Alonso, a two-time Formula One champion, was impressive in his Indy 500 debut, but was forced from the race with 21 laps remaining due to engine problems. Cars made by Honda Motor Co. dominated the race, claiming six of the top 10 spots, including Sato's winning car. </s> Takuma Sato of Japan wins the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500

The Japanese driver held off Helio Castroneves over the final laps and gave Andretti Autosport its second consecutive victory and third in the last four years. Castroneves finished second, followed by Ed Jones, Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan. </s> INDIANAPOLIS (KMOX/AP)- Takuma Sato has won the Indianapolis 500. The Japanese driver held off Helio Castroneves over the final laps and gave Andretti Autosport its second consecutive victory and third in the last four years.

Castroneves finished second, followed by Ed Jones, Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan.

Sato was one of the Indy Car drivers who came to Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois on May 2nd for a test drive at the track ahead of the inaugural Bommarito Automotive Group 500 race on August 26th.

The night before, Sato and three other drivers met fans, signed autographs, and played racing video games at the Microsoft store at the St. Louis Galleria. </s> Takuma Sato, a 40-year-old driver on Michael Andretti's team, won his first Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

Sato's previous best finish at Indy was was in 2013 and 2015 when he finished 13th in both races.

Photos of the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500

Sato passed Helio Castroneves late and held on for five laps to win. </s> Fact: Takuma Sato won the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, becoming the first Japanese driver ever to win the race. </s> Takuma Sato passed Helio Castroneves with five laps to go Sunday to win the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Japanese driver, who wrecked on the final lap while dueling Dario Franchitti for the lead in 2012, managed to hold off Castroneves over the final laps to give Andretti Autosport its second consecutive victory and third in the last four years.



Sato, 40, screamed into his radio as he slowed down the front stretch, his Honda engine still under power after three others let go while their drivers were near the front of the race.



Castroneves was denied a fourth Borg-Warner Trophy, which would have placed the Brazilian alongside A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as the only four-time victors at the Brickyard. Castroneves was followed by IndyCar rookie Ed Jones, Englishman Max Chilton and 2013 winner Tony Kanaan.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> The century of racing in the Indianapolis 500 is filled with drivers who found disappointment, their dreams of winning the iconic race abruptly shattered by crashes, engine failures, botched pit stops and bad luck.

But sometimes there is redemption at the Brickyard, as Takuma Sato can attest.

The 40-year-old Sato won the 101st running of the Indy 500 on Sunday by holding off a charging Helio Castroneves in the final laps, becoming the first Japanese driver to capture the Memorial Day weekend classic.

His victory came five years after Sato tried to win the race with an aggressive last-lap pass of Dario Franchitti that backfired when Sato lost control and slammed into the wall, enabling Franchitti to capture the win.

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This time it was Sato who enjoyed the Indy 500 victor’s traditions of drinking from a bottle of milk and kissing the strip of bricks at the start-finish line that’s held over from the old surface of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

As he knelt to smooch the surface, Sato also was wearing the winner’s traditional wreath of flowers around his neck — with a Japanese flag draped over it.

“Unbelievable feeling,” Sato said after he climbed from his car prepared by the Andretti Autosport team, which Sato joined this season. “It’s beautiful. I dreamed of something like this since I was 12.”

Sato said what happened in 2012 no longer mattered, but agreed that he felt some redemption.

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“I’m so I happy I made it,” he said. “It’s such a privilege to win here.”

It was Sato’s second career victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series; his first was the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2013, when he drove for A.J. Foyt Racing.

But with an Indy 500 victory, “I know how big this news is going to be tomorrow when they wake up in Japan,” Sato’s team owner Michael Andretti said.

As more than 250,000 spectators looked on, including Vice President (and former Indiana governor) Mike Pence, Sato started fourth in the 33-car field and then, with less than 10 laps left, passed Castroneves for the lead.

“I knew I could do it but I was waiting for the moment and the last few laps there was a moment,” said Sato, who also once drove in the Formula One series.

Then it was up to Sato to keep Castroneves behind Sato’s No. 26 Honda-powered car.

Castroneves, a Brazilian hoping to become only the fourth driver in history to win the Indy 500 four times, tried in vain to pass Sato but couldn’t clear him.

“I did everything I could, trust me, everything I could,” said Castroneves, driver of the No. 3 Team Penske car. “Unfortunately it was just a little bit short.”

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The 42-year-old Castroneves then warmly congratulated Sato and, after noting Sato’s age, quipped that “we get better when we get old.”

Castroneves finished second, rookie Ed Jones was third and Britain’s Max Chilton finished fourth.

Fernando Alonso, the two-time Formula One champion making his Indy 500 debut, ran a strong race until his Honda engine failed with 20 laps left. He finished 24th.

Alonso’s decision to skip Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix and enter the Indy 500 was the talk of the racing world this month, and his showing Sunday further impressed the sport’s fans.

After Alonso’s No. 29 car came to a stop on the front straightaway, the crowd roared and gave him a standing ovation as the Spaniard climbed out and walked back to the pits.

“Obviously disappointed not to finish the race,” Alonso said, but added that “this has been one of the best experiences in my career.”

After starting fifth, Alonso led 27 laps and said that at one point he glanced at the scoring pylon and “saw the 29 on it.” Alonso said he hoped someone took a picture of that moment “because I want that picture at home.”

Sato’s win was the second consecutive Indy 500 victory for Andretti Autosport, which won won last year with then-rookie Alexander Rossi, and its third in the last four years.

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Rossi ran well again Sunday for most of the race and the Californian led 23 laps before finishing seventh.

The rest of the top-10 finishers were 2013 winner Tony Kanaan in fifth, followed by two-time winner Juan Pablo Montoya, Rossi, Marco Andretti (Michael’s son), Gabby Chaves and Carlos Munoz.

The final shootout between the leaders was set up by a multi-car crash with 17 laps left in the 200-lap race that collected the cars of Will Power, James Hinchcliffe and Oriol Servia, among others.

But the scariest crash of the day involved pole-sitter Scott Dixon on Lap 53. His car went airborne and crashed into an inside retaining wall after striking the car of Jay Howard. Both drivers walked away from the crash.

The race narrowly avoided another setback. An hour after Sato’s win, a heavy thunderstorm drenched the Brickyard that briefly knocked out power throughout the facility.

james.peltz@latimes.com

Twitter: @PeltzLATimes

UPDATES:

3 p.m.: This article has been updated throughout with additional details of the race and driver quotes.

This article was originally published at 4:15 p.m. </s> (Getty Images)

A driver with Formula 1 experience made it to victory lane in the 2017 Indianapolis 500. And it wasn’t Fernando Alonso.

Takuma Sato passed three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves with five laps to go to win Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s the second-straight win for Andretti Autosport and the team’s third in four years.

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Castroneves made a daring pass of Sato with seven laps to go on the outside entering turn 3 but Sato got him back entering turn 1 less than two laps later.

Takuma Sato’s race-winning pass.

It’s the second win of Sato’s IndyCar career and his first since 2013. He made 90 starts in Formula 1 from 2002-2008 before joining the IndyCar Series in 2010. Coincidentally, the only top-three finish of his Formula 1 career came in the 2004 Indianapolis Grand Prix on the speedway’s road course.

Castroneves finished second while rookie Ed Jones finished third.

Honda cars dominated the race, especially the ones of Andretti. But the engine manufacturer’s speed came at a cost. Andretti’s Ryan Hunter-Reay had an engine failure and so did the Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Charlie Kimball.

And then the engine malaise hit two-time Formula 1 champion and Andretti driver Alonso with 21 laps to go. Alonso, who might have had the fastest car while it was fully functioning, was running in the top 10 when his engine died on the frontstretch.

After starting on the second row, Sato ran up front all day. He even brushed the inside frontstretch wall attempting an inside pass earlier in the race too.

A win for Castroneves would have made him the fourth driver to win four Indianapolis 500s. Since his last win in 2009 he’s finished in the top 10 six times.

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Polesitter Scott Dixon crashed out of the race early in a terrifying incident with Jay Howard. After Howard’s car slid into the wall it came down the track into Dixon’s path. The impact with Howard catapulted Dixon’s car into the air and into the inside wall. Thankfully, both drivers were able to get out of the cars and walk away.

The wreck between Dixon and Howard came in the first half of the race. The second half was plagued by cautions thanks to multiple crashes and debris from cars making contact with each other on restarts. The biggest crash came on the race’s penultimate restart when contact between James Davison and Oriol Servia triggered an incident that also included Josef Newgarden, Will Power and James Hinchcliffe.

The race’s 35 lead changes was down from the 54 lead changes the 2016 race featured. But Sunday’s race had 15 different leaders, the most in Indy 500 history.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Takuma Sato of Japan wins the 2017 Indianapolis 500 ahead of Helio Castroneves of Brazil. Sato is the first Japanese driver to win the event.