Legge, Wilson suffer first major crash of Indy 500 practice
British Indy 500 racers Katherine Legge and Stefan Wilson collided in the first big crash in practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Monday.
The shunt occurred with 50 minutes of the two-hour practice session remaining, when Legge (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) and Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) made contact at Turn 1, just after Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) had passed Devlin DeFrancesco’s Andretti Autosport entry on the front stretch.
The cars appeared to slow as a result of that passing move, causing a concertina effect, and Legge’s left-front wheel ran into the right-rear corner of Wilson as he checked up.
The contact caused both cars to spin before they hit the wall, with Legge hitting side-on as Wilson’s went nose-first into the SAFER barrier.
Legge’s car, which suffered severe right-side damage, briefly got airborne before landing on its belly and impacting the wall again at Turn 2.
Stefan Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet, crash
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Legge climbed out of her car, but Wilson required assistance with a back brace being called for.
The AMR safety crew took 10 minutes to extract Wilson from his car, and although he was stretchered to the ambulance he raised his thumb to the crowd.
“He’s doing well,” Dr Julia Vaizer, IndyCar’s director, medical services told NBC Peacock of Wilson's condition. “He’s being transported to a local hospital for advanced imaging and further evaluation but he’s in good spirits.”
Katherine Legge, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
Legge, who will start Sunday's race from 30th on the grid, said there was nothing she could do to avoid Wilson, who qualified 25th on Saturday.
“The cars in front were all checking up, I lifted as much as I could and downshifted, hit the brakes but it wasn’t enough as they were checking up,” said Legge. “I got into the back of Stefan and we both ended up in the wall.
“It’s another blow to the team after yesterday, those guys don’t deserve it, it’s not right.”
The Rahal team believe Legge's car can be repaired without switching chassis, but Wilson's D&R car appeared to be in worse shape due to the severity of the front-end hit.
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