IndyCar Houston GP

Nathan Alder,

Correspondent (Sport)

 

The penultimate race of the Grand Prix calendar was marred by the spectacular, yet horrific, crash of four-time series champion Dario Franchitti, whose final lap incident left the Scottish driver with two fractured vertebrae and a fractured right ankle.

The remarkable footage of the incident shows how Takuma Sato, racing for A.J. Foyt Racing lost control while going through the high speed turn five. As a result Franchitti’s car collided with the left rear tyre of Sato spinning the car upwards into the air and crashing unceremoniously into the safety fencing before spinning back out and across the track in tatters.

Thankfully neither of Franchitti’s injuries will require surgery and he is expected to make a full recovery. The crash also caused injuries to several spectators and an IndyCar official, who had to be transported to hospital for treatment, whilst a further eleven were seen too by on-site medical staff for minor injuries.

Aside from the crash the double header race weekend saw a huge swing in the Championship standings with Team Penske drive Helio Castroneves surrendering his lead in the race for the title, after team mate Will Power took the chequered flag in race two. Castroneves suffered gear box problems all weekend and despite starting on pole position due to the cancellation of qualifying, could only manage a 23^rd place finish, 37 laps of the pace.

This allowed Championship rival Scott Dixon to go into the final race of the calendar with a 25 point advantage over the Brazilian. Dixon won race one on the Saturday comfortably, before being piped on lap 39 in race two by Power, who went on to win for just his second race win of the year.

This gran prix however will now always be remembered for Franchitti’s crash, which has led to IndyCar officials launching an investigation into how to make racing safer.

An IndyCar statement read “Reducing the risks that are associated with racing is one of our highest priorities. IndyCar is thoroughly reviewing the incident. Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by the accident”.

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (Cheryl Day Anderson)