Felix Rosenqvist escapes violent IndyCar crash

NTT INDYCAR SERIES
RD. 14 – ABC SUPPLY 500, POCONO (USA)

Felix Rosenqvist has escaped largely unscathed from a violent 200 mph crash on the opening lap of Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 NTT IndyCar Series race at Pocono Raceway, USA.
 
Rosenqvist got tangled up in an incident triggered by contact between three drivers ahead of him – Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay – just seconds after the start at the Long Pond, Pennsylvania super speedway.

The Swede’s Chip Ganassi Racing car struck the outside wall at more than 200 miles per hour, worryingly climbing into the surrounding catch fence where it sustained significant damage before coming to a halt on the track.  

The race was immediately red-flagged (stopped) while Rosenqvist, who had started from ninth, received the attention of the medical team. Always conscious, he was subsequently removed from the car and transported to a nearby local hospital for further checks. 
 
With medical scans revealing no major injury, Rosenqvist was later released.

All other drivers involved in the accident were cleared by medical staff at the track.  
 
“First of all, it’s good to see that I’m cleared after the medical tests,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “I just have some minor back pain and a bit of a headache. Hopefully I will be back to normal in a couple of days. A big thank you to the INDYCAR track staff and medical personnel; they did an awesome job looking after everything. Luckily the other drivers are OK as well, which I think is the main thing. It’s a shame that we were caught in the incident on lap one. I think we had a good NTT DATA Honda today. It was great to see Scott (Dixon, team-mate) being up in the lead pack all day. I look forward to being back in the car at Gateway.”
 
The race at Pocono was resumed following the accident, only to be halted once more on lap 128 out of 200 due to weather. It was ultimately not restarted, with Will Power sealing victory ahead of Rosenqvist’s Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Scott Dixon. 

The NTT IndyCar Series is back on track next weekend with another oval race at Gateway on August 24.

RESULTS

NTT IndyCar Series | Pocono

1: Will Power (AUS), 128 laps
2: Scott Dixon (NZL), +5.468s
3: Simon Pagenaud (FRA), +7.095s
4: Santino Ferrucci (USA), +9.469s
5: Josef Newgarden (USA), +10.177s
—
DNF: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), crash

View complete results

 

STANDINGS – OVERALL
(TOP FIVE)

NTT IndyCar Series | After 14/17 races

1: Josef Newgarden (USA), 535 p.
2: Alexander Rossi (USA), 500 p.
3: Simon Pagenaud (FRA), 495 p.
4: Scott Dixon (NZL), 483 p.
5: Will Power (AUS), 407 p.
—
9: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), 304 p.

View complete standings

 

STANDINGS – ROOKIES 
(TOP FIVE)

NTT IndyCar Series | After 14/17 races

1: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), 304 p.
2: Santino Ferrucci (USA), 291 p.
3: Colton Herta (USA), 259 p.
4: Marcus Ericsson (SWE), 237 p.
5: Patricio O’Ward (MEX), 115 p.

View complete standings