INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Alexander Rossi spun coming through the second turn and crashed hard into the outside wall during practice Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Rossi's crash was the first of the month on the 2.5-mile oval and came hours after IndyCar officials penalized two cars for rules violations during Sunday's Indianapolis 500 qualifying.
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver's car suffered major damage a day after the 2016 Indy winner came within
a whisker of capturing his first 500 pole. When Rossi got out of his No. 20 car, he looked unsteady as he climbed into a vehicle that took him to the infield medical care facility.
There was no immediate word on Rossi's condition, though two other drivers involved — Pato O'Ward and Romain Grosjean — were both checked and released from the care center.
Rossi started spinning as he entered the turn, then the outside wall, and skidded down the track with part of the nose of his car on top of the wall. The trailing O'Ward couldn't avoid making contact with the side of Rossi's car. O'Ward then slid across the track in front of other drivers before hitting the inside wall, causing a large cloud of smoke.
At least four teams will scramble to repair their primary cars including one in each of the first three rows of the 33-car starting grid.
In addition to Rossi, who qualified a career-best second, Arrow McLaren's O'Ward earned the No. 6 starting spot. Conor Daly qualified eighth on the 33-car starting grid but suffered damage to his Dreyer & Reinbold car from debris. Grosjean, of Dale Coyne Racing, took the No. 24 spot for Sunday's sold-out race.
The incident happened about 30 minutes into the scheduled two-hour practice session. The final roughly 55 minutes of practice were washed out by rain.
Team Penske's Josef Newgarden posted the fastest lap of the abbreviated practice session with a speed of 226.198 mph. The final Indianapolis 500 practice will be held Friday.
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