The IndyCar Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit was stopped Saturday after 28 of 70 laps because of a violent crash for Felix Rosenqvist in Turn 6.
Safety workers needed about 10 minutes to extricate the Arrow McLaren SP driver, whose No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet seemed to have a stuck throttle entering the turn. Rosenqvist’s car impacted the wall at full speed, scattering tires and knocking over concrete barriers while collapsing the front end.
NBC Sports’ in-car cameras showed that Rosenqvist was awake and alert after the impact, dropping his visor while awaiting help. He was loaded onto a stretcher and put in an ambulance for transport to the medical center at Belle Isle Raceway.
Dr. Geoffrey Billows of IndyCar told NBC Sports reporter Marty Snider that Rosenqvist was “doing fine” and never lost consciousness but was experiencing soreness. Billows said Rosenqvist would be transported to a downtown hospital in Detroit for advanced imaging on his lower body and further evaluation but added any potential injuries weren’t life threatening.
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Rosenqvist had pitted seven laps before the wreck.
The race, which is the first of a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader, was stopped under the red flag at 2:46 p.m. ET, and the repairs to the damaged wall were expected to be lengthy.
Scott Dixon, who had yet to pit after starting the race on black tires, was leading over James Hinchcliffe, whose immediate thoughts were with Rosenqvist.
“Hopefully he’ll be unscathed and all that,” Hinchcliffe told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee. “But yeah it’s tough to get out of a rhythm of a race like that and sit around for a half an hour or 40 minutes and try to get back in race mode to finish the last two-thirds of this thing. We’ll do what we can when we get back out there in the Genesys car.”
After watching the replay of the crash, Alexander Rossi said “obviously, that’s a big hit.
“Our thoughts are with Rosenqvist,” said Rossi, who had pitted early in the race on a three-stop strategy after taking the lead,. “That sucks to see.”
Rosenqvist, 29, is in his third NTT IndyCar Series season and his first with Arrow McLaren SP. The Swede drove the past two seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing, scoring his first victory last year at Road America.
Felix Rosenqvist ‘doing fine’ after wicked crash that stops IndyCar race in Detroit originally appeared on NBCSports.com