An IndyCar Series race was stopped Sunday in its early stages after a violent crash involving Canadian driver Robert Wickens at the Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.
Video of the crash showed Wickens, who hails from Guelph, Ont., making contact with another car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Wickens’ car then became airborne and slammed into the outside wall before spinning onto the track, colliding with other cars. According to IndyCar, Wickens was “awake and alert” shortly after the crash and was transported to the Lehigh Valley Medical Centre.
“Robert Wickens was awake and alert when he came here (to the medical centre) and he’s being transported to Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest Hospital in Allentown, for evaluation,” said Curt Cavin, vice president of communications for IndyCar.
Part of the fence was destroyed in the crash and debris from Wickens’ Honda was scattered across the track. Paramedics removed him from the vehicle and airlifted him to hospital.
“We’re under red flag conditions for fence repair after a multi-car incident on Lap 6,” IndyCar said in a Tweet.
Fellow Canadian James Hinchcliffe, Pietro Fittipaldi and Takuma Sato were also involved in the crash. Hinchcliffe appeared to grab his wrists as he slowly left his car. Hinchcliffe was involved in a near-fatal crash in 2015 while preparing for the Indianapolis 500.
Fittipaldi, Hunter-Reay and Sato all appeared uninjured.
“I’m okay, just thinking about Robert,” Hunter-Reay told NBC. “It’s unfortunate but I just hope Robert is okay. I started pulling ahead and once we got to (Turn) 2 … I thought I had got past him.”
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