Marcus Ericsson admitted that it was “painful” and “irritating” to overlook out on one other victory within the Indianapolis 500.
Andretti driver Ericsson emerged as a shock contender for the Indy 500 after working out of kilter on technique, with a late pitstop propelling him to the lead forward of his former Chip Ganassi teammate Alex Palou.
Though Palou needed to save gasoline to make it to the end, he was in a position to pull off a superb transfer at Flip 1 with 14 laps to go to disclaim Ericsson victory within the greatest race on the IndyCar calendar.
This was the second time in three years that Ericsson completed runner-up within the Indy 500, having beforehand misplaced victory to Penske’s Josef Newgarden on the ultimate lap in 2023.
Ericsson admitted that this defeat could be laborious to swallow for him, given the gasoline benefit he had on his rival within the closing levels of the race.
“That was painful to overlook out once more,” he stated. “Second time second place right here and it is a winner-takes-all sort of place. Simply actually painful.
“Nonetheless actually happy with the 28 crew. They did a very good job race.
“We had a very robust race. The automotive was actually laborious to drive and we have been working within the again for the center a part of it. However we stored preventing, stored attempting to get again, stored preventing and we had a tricky couple of years right here, however at present we confirmed what we will do and we will struggle for it.
“In fact, ending second is de facto robust. On the identical time congrats to Alex and Chip Ganassi Racing. This one hurts for positive”
Palou caught Ericsson unexpectedly when he discovered room on the within of the Swede underneath braking for Flip 1 to seize the lead with 14 laps to run.
It was anticipated that Palou would like to take a seat behind Ericsson to avoid wasting as a lot gasoline as attainable to mount a late assault.
However with Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster working nearly a lap down and straight in entrance of them, Palou might use their slipstream to avoid wasting gasoline.
Ericsson stated the race-winning cross Palou made at Flip 1 will preserve him up at evening, as he regrets not shutting the door on the Spaniard going into the left-hander.
“We had the lappers forward of us which was making it troublesome and he received a run on me.
“I did not know if he was going for it or not. That is the factor. I am always considering always now that I ought to have lined the within.
“When he received by I attempted all the pieces to get again on him however it’s actually laborious in that soiled air. It is actually irritating.
“I used to be within the lead, I had that race lined and I simply missed it. That is going to be a tricky one to swallow.
He added: “That is the factor that is going to maintain me up at evening for some time. That second. What I did and what I did not.
I have to look again at that. As I stated, it will preserve me up at evening for some time.”
