Pace car crash delays Detroit IndyCar race

Prev Next

IndyCar Detroit Breaking news

29,139 views

Pace car crash delays Detroit IndyCar race

GM leader Mark Reuss shunted the Chevrolet Corvette on the parade lap for the second IndyCar race at the Detroit Grand Prix, bringing the field of racecars to a halt.

Reuss, the executive VP of global product development, lost control under power and over the crest on the exit of Turn 2 of the Belle Isle track.

Tracking behind the two-seater IndyCar, the Corvette nosed hard into the concrete retaining wall, and the field of 23 racecars came to a halt.

Within seconds, Reuss’s Wikipedia page had been hacked, adding to his job title “and a professional pace car crasher.”

Once the debris had been cleared – and only polesitter Alexander Rossi had run through some of it – the cars were refired by the AMR Safety Team and returned to pitlane.

Speaking to ABC, Rossi’s strategist Rob Edwards said of the debris from the shunt: “Alex thinks he avoided most of it. I hope we don’t have a cut tire.”

Regular pacecar driver Oriol Servia was installed in the back-up Corvette pace car.

Veteran team owner Roger Penske said of the situation: “We’ve seen the leader at Indy spin out on the pace lap, this isn’t quite as bad when you’re in your race car. It’s too bad, but come to the racetrack and you’ll see anything.”