Harvey cleared for IndyCar return at Long Beach

Harvey was forced to miss the second round of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season after a shunt during practice at Texas Motor Speedway. The #45 Hy-Vee RLL car understeered in the middle of Turn 2, Harvey downchanged, the car started oversteering, and while Harvey could have caught it, the right-rear wheel struck the outside wall a glancing blow.

That caused the car to loop across the track and make heavy contact with the inside wall, before sliding along the back straight to Turn 3.

Although initially cleared by the IndyCar medical team, on raceday morning, the series put out the statement: "Per IndyCar protocol, all drivers wear accelerometers that measure g-forces exhibited during an incident. These get evaluated fully after each incident, and if the result of the g-forces surpasses the minimum threshold, drivers must be re-evaluated prior to returning to competition. Following the protocol, the driver of the #45, Jack Harvey, was re-evaluated this morning and was not cleared for racing.”

Harvey’s car was taken over by former RLL part-timer Santino Ferrucci who, despite starting from the back, drove up to ninth, finishing just a couple of places behind one of his teammates, Graham Rahal.

Today, however, came the announcement that Harvey will rejoin the squad for the third round of the season, the Acura GP of Long Beach, joining teammates Rahal and Christian Lundgaard.

A statement from RLL reads: “Jack Harvey has been cleared to compete by the INDYCAR medical team following his incident on Saturday, March 19 at Texas Motor Speedway. He will make his competitive return to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 8-10.

“We would like to express our gratitude for the exceptional care that Dr. Billows, his staff including Dr. Julia Vaizer and Dr. Terry Trammell and the AMR IndyCar Safety Team has given to Jack, both on-site in Texas and in the time since then.”

Harvey took to Twitter to say: “Cleared and ready for @GPLongBeach. I’m grateful to @IndyCar, @DallaraGroup and @BellRacingHQ helmets for keeping me as safe as possible. Thanks to Dr. Billows, his staff including Dr. Vaizer, Dr. Trammell and the Safety Team. As well as @RLLracing and @HyVee! On to Cali!”