INDIANAPOLIS -- Fernando Alonso's Indy 500 debut ended in circumstances he has grown used to in Formula One: a Honda engine failure.
Alonso's remarkable run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended with a puff of smoke from the rear of his McLaren-Honda on Lap 179 while running eighth. After being in the top six for most of the opening 150 laps, the race had fallen away from the Spaniard after two cautions in quick succession shuffled him down the order.
Alonso only took part in the Indy 500 because of Honda's third successive failure to give him a competitive engine in Formula One, with McLaren allowing him to compete in the famous oval race instead of the Monaco Grand Prix. It was an anticlimactic finish to a story which has captured the imagination of racing fans on either side of the Atlantic.
Concerns of a failure had been raised earlier in the 500-mile event when teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay's engine gave way on Lap 140. Charlie Kimball's Honda then gave up in a cloud of smoke on Lap 166 before Alonso's followed suit 13 laps later.
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