Ed Carpenter escaped injury when he was involved in a frightening accident during Sunday morning's practice session for the Indianapolis 500.
Carpenter, who has won the pole position for the 500-mile race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the previous two years, spun out and backed it hard into the wall as he exited turn 2. His car ricocheted off the wall and then rotated upside down while airborne before it slid down the backstretch on its left side. The driver/co-owner of the No. 20 CFH Racing Chevrolet-powered car was examined and released at the track's infield medical care center. He has been cleared to drive.
The incident occurred shortly after the practice session begun at 8 a.m. ET.
"We were on the fourth lap of a qualifying sim, and the car felt good, a lot better than yesterday," Carpenter said. "We've seen the data, and it just went. I wish I knew why it happened."
It was the third time within five days that a spectacular crash has happened during Indy 500 practice at this famed 2.5-mile oval.
On Wednesday, three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves hit the wall just past turn 1 and then flipped around in the air before it landed upside down on the track and rolled over back on its wheels. One day later, Carpenter's teammate, Josef Newgarden, spun out and hit the turn 1 wall before it flipped over in the air and landed on its side. Castroneves and Newgarden were not injured during their wrecks.
Following Carpenter's accident, IndyCar Series officials announced that the start of Sunday's qualifications for the Indy 500 has been delayed from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Track workers had to make repairs to the turn 2 wall where Carpenter hit.
Race officials met with team owners as well as representatives from Chevrolet and Honda to discuss safety measures in wake of the accidents, and revisions were made to the qualifying format. The aerodynamic bodywork package for both manufacturers has been changed, with teams using the same package for qualifying that will be used for the 500-mile race. The engine horsepower has been reduced, meaning speeds will be lower for qualifying than they have been in practice. On Saturday, Castroneves recorded the fastest lap here this month at 233.474 mph. Furthermore, no points will be awarded for qualifications.
"This morning, we saw a third car get into wall, turn backwards and lift into the air," said Mark Miles, the CEO of Hulman & Company, the parent company of IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "We've said all along we want to go faster, but we want to do so safely.
"As a precautionary measure, IndyCar will require that the cars qualify today in the same aero set up that they will run in the Indianapolis 500 next weekend. Also, for today, boost levels will return to race conditions. Given these changes, we have elected to not award points for today's qualifications."
Day 1 of Indy 500 qualifying on Saturday was called off due to rain.
With the delay in Sunday's qualifying, that allowed Carpenter's team to prepare his backup car and then have it go through technical inspection before the session began.
"I'm just anxious to get back in the car," Carpenter said. "We still got a lot of work to do."
Each of the 34 entries will get one four-lap qualifying attempt for positions 1-30. The "Fast Nine Shootout," in which the top-nine cars return to determine positions 1-9 (the first three rows) for the Indy 500, has been canceled due to the late start time of qualifying.
Qualifying for positions 31-33 will begin about 30 minutes following the previous session, with multiple attempts as time permits.
[SportsNetwork.com]
