- Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Toyota) edged Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves to win the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500 and give Toyota a victory in its first-ever appearance at Indy.
- Gil de Ferran's victory is his first Indianapolis 500 win, his first victory of the season and the third of his IRL career. The win marks the third consecutive victory for Marlboro Team Penske. De Ferran also was a two-time CART champion.
- Toyota-powered cars took six of the top seven and seven of the top nine spots in today's finishing order. Tomas Scheckter (Target Toyota) was fourth behind the two Marlboro Team Penske teammates, with Mo Nunn Racing teammates Tora Takagi (Pioneer Toyota) and Alex Barron (Meijer Toyota) finishing fifth and sixth and Tony Renna (Cure Autism Now/HomeMed Pharmacy) in seventh.
- Toyota-powered cars led 170 of the 200 laps today including 131 of the final 133. Five different Toyota-powered cars led the race with Tomas Scheckter leading a race-high 63 laps and Helio Castroneves leading 58.
- Helio Castroneves' bid for three consecutive wins was halted, but he now has registered two wins and a second in three Indy 500s. Ina ddition, he's placed in the top three in three of four races this season with seconds at Phoenix and Indy and third at Miami.
- Today's victory marks the first for Toyota in its first attempt at the Indianapolis 500. It is the third win for Toyota in four IndyCarSeries events. Toyota-powered drivers have now captured nine of the 12 'top-three' finishing positions in the season's first four races. Dating back to last season's CART competition, Toyota has now won 13 of its last 23 races.
- Toyota-powered ToraTakagi was the top finishing rookie with a fifth-place finish today - two spots ahead of fellow Toyota rookie Tony Renna.
- By leading six laps today, Scott Dixon (Target Toyota) has now led in each of his first four IRL IndyCar Series races.
Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: "We're just ecstatic to win the biggest race in the world on our first attempt. To compete in and win the Indianapolis 500 has been Toyota's goal for the past 10 years. We're fortunate to have such a terrific group of teams and drivers. This is a total team effort -- from the drivers and teams to our track support people and everyone back in the shop at Toyota Racing Development in Costa Mesa (Calif.). Winning the pole showed we had speed, but we've also really worked hard in terms of durability and fuel mileage. With a tremendous effort by Gil de Ferran and Marlboro Team Penske, all the hard work paid off today."
Toyota Drivers Start/Finish
Gil de Ferran 10/1
Helio Castroneves 1/2
Tomas Scheckter 12/4
Tora Takagi 7/5
Alex Barron 25/6
Tony Renna 8/7
Al Unser Jr. 17/9
ScottDixon 4/17
A.J. Foyt IV 23/18
Scott Sharp 9/20
Airton Dare 33/24
Richie Hearn 28/28
Shigeaki Hattori 30/30
Felipe Giaffone 16/31
NextRace: Texas Motor Speedway, June 7, ESPN
