Team Penske Verizon IndyCar driver Will Power drove his No. 12 Chevrolet-powered Dallara to a second-place finish at the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway over the weekend – a race marked by a dramatic five-car crash in the early stages that forced the action to halt for nearly two hours for track repairs.
The incident, which can be seen above, occurred on Lap 7, when Robert Wickens (No. 6, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28, Andretti Autosport) made contact in Turn 2. The two cars slid to the outside, and Wickens’ car launched over the front of Hunter-Reay’s, hitting the catch fencing and being spun violently before coming to a stop on the track. The driver was awake after the crash, and was attended to by safety and medical staff before being air-lifted to a medical center. James Hinchcliffe, Takuma Sato, and Pietro Fittipaldi were all taken out of the race in the chaos.
Wickens, who entered the race in sixth place in the drivers’ standings after four consecutive top-five finishes, sustained orthopedic injuries, and as of now, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pennsylvania is holding him for further observation. All other drivers involved in the crash were uninjured.
The catch fencing was repaired over the course of an hour and 56 minutes, at which point racing resumed. Will Power, who’d started from pole, was ultimately unable to rein in Alexander Rossi (No. 27, Andretti Autosport) after the restart, settling for second, but strengthening his points position in the chase for the drivers’ title. He’s currently fourth in the standings, behind Scott Dixon (Honda driver, first), Alexander Rossi (Honda, second), and Josef Newgarden (Chevrolet, third), and with three races left on the calendar, any of the current top-ten still have a mathematical chance of clinching the championship.
Comment
close call for the talented Wickens, glad he will drive another day.