Indianapolis (AP) – Colton Herta crashed strongly to qualify for Indianapolis 500 on Saturday, a few hours after Marcus Armstrong was taken to a stretcher after a scary accident in the same place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The two wrecks occurred in turn 1, where winds blowing up to 30 MPH which are largely blocked by the stands on the front section suddenly behind the drivers. Herta’s car hit the outside wall, then landed on the side and slipped into the short chute before resting, and the safety teams had to work together to return it to its tires.
Herta was able to go out, but he needed help to go to a vehicle pending for a trip to the care center in the inner field. He was released soon later and Indycar said that Heta had been authorized to drive if his emergency car was ready.
Andretti Autosport was busy working there, but the one hour crash after the qualification session of almost 7 hours left a short time. If they weren’t able to return on Saturday, the best Herta could be the last row of the last chance on Sunday.
“Fortunately, these days, these accidents seem much more frightening than they feel it – not to say that we felt good,” said Heta. “There was no real sign that led there. We were super satisfied with the car this morning. I went out and we couldn’t even get the turn 1. ”
Armstrong was also able to climb from his shipwrecked car, but was immediately helped on a stretcher. He gave a boost when he was loaded into an ambulance and took to the care center, where he was released about 90 minutes later.
“He is awake. He is alert. He is fine,” said Dr. Julia Vaizer, medical director of Indycar and Speedway.
Meyer Shank Racing also started working on Armstrong’s rescue car, even if it was not clear that would try to qualify it. The team obtained the help of Chip Ganassi Racing, another program powered by Honda with a close relationship.
If Armstrong is unable to qualify No. 66 – it has been removed from the range for its guaranteed qualification attempt – there are few options available. Tony Kanaan, the winner of Indy 500 2013, is the only driver to have completed the recycling course, but he is the team director for Arrow McLaren, and finished it so that his team has a safeguard if Nascar Kyle Larson’s star must abandon the May 25 race to go to Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte.
There is also a conflict of interest between the Arrow McLaren team fed by Chevrolet and the Honda teams.
Other rescue drivers could in theory finish the refreshment on Sunday, allowing them to get into Armstrong’s car. But without running on Saturday, the best they could do would be to nail one of the last three places in the 33 -cars.
“It looked a little bizarre, to be honest,” said Armstrong teammate Felix Rosenqvist, about the accident. “I have not seen any update or anything. I just tried to watch the screen while I was sitting in the car. I hope they can bounce back quickly. ”
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