The first casualty of the Indianapolis 500 is confirmed. Unfortunately, Stefan Wilson is the sad protagonist of this story, victim of the first major accident of the week Indy, who arrived this past Monday, during the penultimate day of training before the big event. The Briton, a Dreyer & Reinbold Racing / Cusick Motorsports driver, had to spend the night in hospital, where he was admitted last day after being consciously and alertly evacuated. Already at IU Health Methodist Hospitalthe first medical examinations detected “a fracture of the 12th thoracic vertebra”, as the team statement points out.
Around two in the afternoon on the American circuit, Katherine Legge’s #44 Honda Hendrickson collided from behind with Wilson’s #24 Chevrolet DRR Cusick CareKeepers into the first turn of the oval. A high-speed collision that led them to hit the defenses and, despite the fact that the Briton’s car was losing speed, Legge’s car continued until the barriers of turn 2, where it hit again, finally staying in the middle of the track . Fortunately, the driver was able to get out of the car under her own power, without any major problem. She was evacuated to the IU Health Emergency Medical Center of the circuit itself and, fortunately, no injury has been reported. Wilson did not suffer the same fate, who did have to be evacuated from the car by the health team to be transferred to the hospital.
The pilot, who last Saturday qualified 25th, will be subjected to “further testing” in addition to staying in the hospital to “remain under observation” for the next few hours. Wilson thus misses the 107th edition of the famous Indianapolis 500, which was to be his fifth participation in the American event. For the moment, his team has not wanted to give more details about his continuity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and, he explains in his press release, that he will give more details of his plans “in due course”. But the truth is that they are going against the clock: the last training session will take place on Friday before the great festival of speed, which will be held this Sunday, May 28 (6:45 p.m., on Movistar Deportes), of which Alex Palou will start from the first position after achieving a historic pole position for Spain.