Rinus VeeKay used some bold moves to win the IndyCar Indianapolis Grand Prix on Saturday, capturing his first win in the US open-wheel series ahead of pole-sitter Romain Grosjean.

The 20-year-old from the Netherlands became the third first-time winner in the series this season and the fourth driver under the age of 25 to win in five races in 2021 after Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou.

He started in seventh and powered his way up with speed and determination, making a big move on lap 42 when he split the Chip Ganassi Racing cars of Palou and Jimmy Johnson to overtake them both.

He passed Grosjean — who held a comfortable early lead — with 37 laps remaining and won by 4.951sec.

VeeKay, who gave Ed Carpenter Racing a first victory since 2016, surrendered the lead briefly through a pit stop cycle, but led the final 20 laps of the 85-lap race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — where the Indianapolis 500 will be run on the famed oval course in two weeks.

“We had an awesome start to the weekend, best start I’ve ever had,” VeeKay said. “I knew we had the car, and we were so fast. Just the perfect day. It’s amazing.”

Palou was third, with Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal rounding out the top-five.

The signs were good for VeeKay when he was fastest in the morning warm-up. He had some success before on the Indianapolis road course with a pole position and third-placed finish last October.

He crashed heavily on the Indy oval in Indianapolis 500 testing to start 2021, breaking a finger. But he still finished in the top 10 of three of the next four races.

For Grosjean, a first IndyCar podium marked a stunning return from his horrifying fiery crash in Bahrain last November that ended his Formula One career.

“That’s really a good day,” said the 35-year-old Frenchman, who received massive cheers from the limited crowd as he was interviewed post race.

“Bahrain, it was horrible, but for my life it’s been a great experience — the people are behind me.”

Wembley Stadium came alive with the largest sports crowd in England since the coronavirus pandemic hit on Saturday as 22,000 spectators descended on the home of English football to witness Leicester lift the FA Cup for the first time.

Youri Tielemans’s stunning strike that beat Chelsea 1-0 was met with a wave of noise from the 6,000 Foxes fans behind the goal where the ball had nestled in the top corner.

There were just as jubilant scenes when Chelsea saw a late equaliser ruled out after a VAR review and the final whistle went.

“It’s fantastic for the club,” said Leicester fan Alan Edwards. “To have fans at the game as well. It’s a shame we can’t have 40,000 here, but it’s brilliant to have so many here. You can hear the atmosphere.”

Just under 4,000 saw Leicester’s semi-final victory over Southampton last month.

That attendance was doubled for Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Tottenham in the League Cup final on April 25.

Later this week, crowds of up to 10,000 will return to Premier League grounds for the final two matchdays of the season, including another vital clash between Chelsea and Leicester for a place in next season’s Champions League.

Wembley will host eight matches at Euro 2020 with at least 25 percent of its 90,000 capacity.

There are even hopes that both semi-finals and the final could be played out in front of more than 22,500.

“You can see the difference the fans make for us,” said Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers.

“The energy they gave us, it felt like there was 30,000 of them in here today. With the noise they made, we felt that energy and that really pushed us over the line.

“That is what football is about. That connection between the players and the fans.”

Of the 22,000 tickets, 12,000 were distributed to the two clubs with another 10,000 divided between locals, frontline workers from across London and English Football Association (FA) stakeholders.

Even for a very different cup final, tradition was maintained as the hymn “Abide with Me” was sung by a choir before kick-off, while Prince William was introduced to both teams in his role as president of the FA.

Super Eagles duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi have joined legion of Nigerian football star players to have won the prestigious English FA Cup as their club, Leicester City beat  Chelsea 1-0 in the final at the Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday.

On record, Daniel Amokachi, Nwankwo Kanu and Mikel Obi are some former Super Eagles players that have won the cup before in with Everton, Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

Pinnick Congratulates Ndidi, Iheanacho On Fa Cup Win

President of the Nigeria Football Federation and FIFA Council Member, Amaju Melvin Pinnick has sent a message of congratulations to Super Eagles’ midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and forward Kelechi Iheanacho on the duo’s triumph with Leicester City over much –fancied Chelsea FC in Saturday’s FA Cup final in England.

Both players featured in the encounter at Wembley and at the end celebrated enthusiastically with a Nigeria flag as they joined a list of only seven other Nigerian players to have lifted England’s most glamorous diadem.

“I am very happy for both Ndidi and Iheanacho. They worked very hard for Leicester City throughout the campaign and themselves and the Club deserve the honour.

“I believe this triumph will serve as a major psychological boost for the two players ahead of our friendly games this summer and FIFA World Cup qualifiers starting in September.

“I am also very happy seeing the two players celebrating with the Nigerian flag at the end of it all. That was awesome.”

Ndidi and Iheanacho became only the second pair of Nigerians to have celebrated The FA Cup win in England, after Nwankwo Kanu and John Utaka triumphed with Portsmouth against Cardiff in 2008.

Before then, Daniel Amokachi had won with Everton in 1995; Celestine Babayaro with Chelsea in 2000; Kanu with Arsenal in 2002 and 2003 and John Mikel Obi with Chelsea in 2007.

After the Kanu/Utaka feat in 2008, John Mikel Obi won again with Chelsea in 2009, 2010 and 2012; Alex Iwobi won with Arsenal in 2017 and; Victor Moses won with Chelsea in 2018.