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Sunday at Long Pond - the IndyCar race…
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Despite the threat of rain, which never came, the IndyCar race was held on Sunday to completion, and it will be remembered for two things: First, the dominating drive by Alexander Rossi for Andretti Autosport, leading 180 of 200 laps and taking the WIN with a lead of 4.5 seconds over P2 Will Power for Team Penske, with Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi some 41 seconds back for P3.
Second, it will be remembered for the vicious crash that took out 5 cars on a restart on lap 7, following a tap and spin on lap 1 that took out Spencer Pigot for Ed Carpenter Racing.
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Rossi for the 3rd WIN of the season and the 2nd in domination.
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The huge shunt occurred on the lap 7 restart following the Pigot incident, as Robert Wickens for Schmidt Peterson got his nose inside of Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport at full song in Turn 2, where there is only ever room for 1 car. The two barely grazed each other - Wickens’ front right wheel to Hunter-Reay’s left rear - but it was enough to send them both to the wall. Wickens’ car then launched over Ryan and into the catch fencing, which hooked it, sending it back onto the track in a violent spin, shedding debris at a spectacular rate.
As the debris and fluids from both cars scattered all over the track James Hinchcliffe for Schmidt Peterson smacked into Takuma Sato for Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Then Pietro Fittipaldi for Dale Coyne Racing spun into the sideways-sitting Hinchcliffe. The rest of the field miraculously avoided spinning cars and huge piece of debris flying all over.
Four of the five involved walked away, but it took the safety workers some 10 to 12 minutes to free Wickens from his machine. He was taken to the infield care center but then flown by lifeflight to a local area hospital. At this time it is known that he was awake and alert, but sustained several injuries to extremities, his spine and his lungs. None are said to be life-threatening.
Robert Wickens
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The race was red-flagged for almost 2 hours to repair the catch fencing. Once it was resumed Rossi jumped into the lead over Power and was only ever out of it while pitting and for a few late laps, following a pit stop. The real racing was behind him and Will and that was a lot of superb jockeying that saw a number of drivers occupy spots P3 to P10 at one time or another. Major battlers included Marco Andretti and Zach Veach for Andretti Autosport, Sebastien Bourdais for Dale Coyne, and Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud for Team Penske. All took turns in the TOP FIVE at one time or another.
Once it was restarted on lap 11 the race was incident-free to the end.
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With this result here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Pocono:
1 - Scott Dixon 530
2 - Alexander Rossi 501
3 - Josef Newgarden 464
4 - Will Power 449
5 - Ryan Hunter-Reay 411
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Next up for the IndyCars is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois - just across the Mississippi River from the St. Louis Gateway Arch - next weekend, August 24-25. Joining the IndyCars will be Pro Mazda and the Indy Lights.
NOTE: We will update readers on the condition of Robert Wickens in the Off-Season thread as word comes out.
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