Two days before the Indianapolis 500, the most famous oval in the world hosts Carb Day, a last day of activity in which pilots and teams finish fine-tuning their machines for the war that they have to undertake 48 hours later. Nevertheless, for Colton Herta and David Malukas, that preparation has turned into disaster after their respective crashes in a rain-shortened session.
The most serious and striking accident was that of Herta, 25 minutes from the end. Rolling in the turbulence of Takuma Sato’s car, the American driver was unable to completely correct a loss of control in turn 1, he hit the wall with the rear right wheel of the vehicle and with the front, and this rose later in the air until it capsizedsliding upside down towards the turn 2 wall at a slower speed.
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Despite the spectacular nature of the incident, the first IndyCar flight on the oval since the chassis redesign in 2018, and the large G-forces recorded, Herta did not suffer any physical mishap and any type of concussion was ruled out. His chassis did not fare so well, which has been completely ruled out for Sunday’s race, forcing Andretti Autosport to prepare a much less optimized reserve car against the clock to compete on Sunday. Herta will keep his 25th starting position, and the engine he used today will be able to stay in his new chassis.
20 minutes before this accident, in the same curve, David Malukas expanded the list of injured that Dalton Kellett had inaugurated this Monday. The Dale Coyne Racing driver, who sat 13th on the grid last weekend, was attempting a passing maneuver on the inside of Santino Ferrucci, and both drivers made contact on the entry of the corner. Malukas’ tire was punctured, and the young rookie ended up losing control right at the end, hitting the left side of the car. Race Direction determined that Ferrucci was guilty of a ‘preventable incident’and was prevented from going out on the track for the rest of the session.
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Apart from the incidents, the appearance of a light and persistent rain made the training sessions start at the time they should have finished, so its duration from two hours was reduced to 90 minutes. As long as the accidents allowed, especially in the first half, there was quite a lot of activity, although in colder conditions than those that will be on Sunday. In this context, Ganassi shone again and led the table with Tony Kanaan.
The veteran Brazilian driver, who will start in sixth place, set the fastest time with an average of 227,114 miles per hour, ahead of his teammate Marcus Ericsson and with poleman Scott Dixon in fourth position. The only one who slipped in between was takuma sato, showing again that his car is one of the most solid for the race. Alex Palou, who will start second in the Indy 500, was the only Ganassi driver not to finish in the top 10, ending the day in 14th place after 49 laps and a best lap of 225.435 miles per hour.
After these training sessions, with another small rainy delay, the traditional Pit Stop Challenge, in which the mechanics of 13 pilots faced each other in eliminatory for a final prize of 50,000 dollars. For the eighteenth time in history, Team Penske was the winner thanks to Josef Newgardenwhose mechanics beat Chip Ganassi Racing and Scott Dixon’s car 2-0 in a best-of-three final. Álex Palou participated in the eventand his mechanics managed to defeat Will Power’s Penske in the first round before falling to Newgarden in the quarterfinals.
Photos: IndyCar Media