Colton Hertha are fine after a terrifying fall in Indie 500 training

Colton Hertha are fine after a terrifying fall in Indie 500 training

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INDIANAPOLIS - Colton Hertha remained unharmed and went after his car overturned in a terrible collision on Friday during the final training for the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The driver of Andretti Autosport, who won the GMR Grand Prix two weeks ago at the IMS, lost control of his No. 26 Dallara-Hondom as he exited turn 1 with 25 minutes until the end of the Carb Day session. After making right-rear contact with the SAFER barrier, the front of the car flew into the air and landed upside down.

“We’re all fine,” Hertha told her radio team even before the car came to a stop after gliding a few hundred feet down the parachute between the first two turns.

HOW TO WATCH INDI 500: Details and schedule of Sunday’s race on NBC

INITIAL SETTING: Where 33 drivers will take the green flag

Hertha’s father, Brian, negotiated him with a wait in the AMR security team, which arrived 10 seconds after the car stopped upside down.

“Everyone is retiring, you are safe now,” Brian Hertha told radio. “Just wait for security to arrive. Just stay tied up. Security is here now. Just stay tied up. Don’t drive away, you’ll fall off the bottom. “

“Yes, I understand,” Colton Hertha said. “Sorry about that.”

It was the first major accident at IMS in which the car landed upside down since the advent of the aeroscreen, a cockpit safety device introduced in the NTT IndiCar series two years ago.

“Yeah, a little sad about that race car,” Hertha told NBC Sports’s Dave Burns. “It’s bullshit. It looked like it was okay. We were really lost throughout that session. I think I went a little too fast for that corner. He moved and air entered beneath him. But yes, I’m fine. I’m all right.

“I am grateful for many things. I guess aeroscreen is part of that. But more than the AMR security team and the durability of the side pads and all the side structures of the car because it was a big hit from the side. And yes, for the security teams, they were very quick to overthrow me. “

Dr Geoffrey Billus, director of medical services at IndiCar, said Hertha was “initially” licensed to drive, but the series was still deciding whether additional tests were needed.

“Colton is fine,” Dr Billows told Burns in front of the trail care center. “He spoke to his team on the radio before the AMR security team arrived there. He arrived at the field care center, walked in alone.

“He was assessed and initially cleared. He underwent an initial concussion examination. IndiCar has a policy if the accelerometer data on the car reaches a certain threshold, we would do more detailed testing, and we are just waiting to get that accelerometer data and then I will doubt that it will come out that door.

Although Hertha was fine, his car was not. NBC Sports Pit reporter Kevin Lee said that the team will prepare a backup with the parts that were rescued from the destroyed vehicle.

“I think we were loose because it was just raining and the track was green,” said Hertha, who qualified 25th for the 106th Indie 500. “I think the biggest thing was in this session that we didn’t want to do anything. great discoveries in the car. We didn’t want to go from a terrible car to a winning car.

Colton Hertha, No. 26 Dallara-Honda, is returning to the garage after she overturned in a collision in turn 1 during the last training for the Indy 500 on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis (Grace Hollars / IndiStar / USA TODAY Sports Network).

“We may have taken small steps, but it was all about correcting the last small balances. Make sure everyone is in line to stop at the pits and that everyone is happy with how the fuel tank was.

“It was our last chance, and we managed to do a lot of things, so I’m grateful for that. Yes, I’m not too worried about the race. I think the car will be fine. “

According to the rules of IndiCar, Hertha will keep its starting position despite going to the spare car.

There was another incident in practice. About 20 minutes before the wreck of Hertha, David Malukas cut the tire and spun into the wall of turn 1 after cutting the tire from contact with number 23 Santino Ferrucci, when he tried to pass inside.

“I came out with only a small bruise,” Malukas told Burns. “For some reason he came back. I was just holding my line to go straight, and he obviously hit me there, my tire burst. There’s not much you can do with a punctured tire that goes at that speed.

“I made the same move with (Dalton) Kelet two rounds before, and both went pretty clean. It was definitely a little late, but those late moves will be there for the race. I’m not really sure he may not have had observers or anything like that, but if you hear someone (say), ‘Inside, Inside’, I definitely wouldn’t give up. So I don’t think there was anything wrong with my end.

“I still feel very confident. The car was very fast. The car felt very good. “

Ferrucci took the blame for the number 18 incident, which he drove in 2020 for Dale Coine Racing.

“I’m glad he’s fine,” Ferrucci told Kevin Lee of NBC Sports. “It was a big hit. He was coming, I knew he was coming. I could hear him (from) the observer. It was a really late addition to the line. I just went out to surrender because we passed the crossing for me. I just checked and thought I was well timed, and obviously not.

“That is my mistake. That is what it is. I’m sorry for those guys I’ve known well since two years ago, so I’m really angry that they have to make a race car. So I’m really sorry. I couldn’t do much more there. Just a mistake on my part. Just misjudged. ”

Tony Canaan made the fastest lap (227,114 mph) in the final practice, while Chip Ganassi Racing took four of the top seven speeds with Marcus Erickson (second, 227,004), Scott Dixon (third, 226,696) and Jimmy Johnson (seventh, 225.97).

In the Ruoff Mortgage Pit Stop Challenge, Joseph Newgarden’s team defeated Dixon.

RESULTS: Pit Stop Challenge l Final Training Speed ​​l Combined Training Speed

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