IndyCar Series rookie Robert Wickens sustained orthopedic injuries to both legs and a broken arm in a massive crash in Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. Wickens was airlifted by LifeLine helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His status will be updated by IndyCar Series officials on Monday.

The 29-year-old IndyCar rookie driver from Guelph, Ontario, was involved in the spectacular and vicious crash on the first full lap of green flag race -- lap 7 -- of Sunday’s 500-mile race at the 2.5-mile triangle-shaped speedway.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Wickens were racing side by side into the tunnel turn 2 at Pocono. Wickens tried to go underneath Hunter-Reay’s Honda, but as the turn closed up, the two cars made contact, sending Wickens’ Honda airborne.

It went high, into the catchfence in turn 2, ripping down a large portion of the fencing. Wickens' car burst into flames and began to rotate like a helicopter blade. It rotated four or five times before landing back on the track.

“I’m just thinking about Robert (Wickens) right now,” Hunter-Reay said. “I haven’t had any information yet. They’re just waiting for him to come back to the medical center. It’s unfortunate in the first half of the race. I just hope Robert is all right.

“(I’m) just lucky to get out of that one.

“We he had a run out of turn 1, Robert came up along the side of me, but I was in the draft of (Will) Power in front of me, so I started pulling ahead. Once we got to (turn) 2, he was at my corner, at best. I mean barely there.

“It was one of those corners you’re not up alongside, you know … it's ... yeah. First lap of the race. I mean, I thought, at that point, I had got to him, cleared him. I even gave room. I left a lane; left a half of a lane, if not more. I’ve gotta look at it again. I was pretty shocked I got hit in the back. That is neither here nor there right now -- we’re just thinking about Robert.

“It’s all very, very unfortunate.”

Five cars were involved in the crash and the race was red-flagged for 1 hour, 56 minutes because of the damage to the fence. Other drivers involved included Wickens’ teammate at Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports, James Hinchcliffe, Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Pietro Fittipaldi of Dale Coyne Racing.

All drivers other than Wickens were checked and released and cleared to drive. Fittipaldi, who already has a left-leg fracture from a sports car crash in Belgium in May, complained of foot pain but was able to be released without further injury.

“I’m feeling great, thank God; you know, obviously a little bit sore from the impact, but I’m 100 percent -- no broken bones so, thankfully I’m fine,” Fittipaldi said. “I just saw a lot of smoke ahead, I was in the middle of the corner behind Ed (Carpenter). We had made a decent start in the race, and it just all full of smoke, when I saw I was going to hit Hinch head on and I had to slam the brakes and try to get low, when I did that -- I also think with the debris, also cold tires -- I just lost the rear of the car and then hit him sideways.

“Just speaking to Hinch and Sato after, it was just so much debris from the crash, there was just so much debris and fluid on the track. I just tried to slow and get down, you just lost it and hit him sideways. It is what it is. I’m glad there are three races left in the championship, trying to get some good results and I’m looking forward to Gateway.”

Wickens is close personal friends to teammate Hinchcliffe, as the two grew up near each other in the Toronto suburbs in Ontario.

“That’s not the race day we were hoping for,” Hinchcliffe said after he was released. “I saw the accident happening in front of me. (Zach) Veach started sliding up, I tried to slow down and just kind of lost it in the fray. As I was going backwards, I think Pietro (Fittipaldi) had nowhere to go and came into me.

Other than that, there was a bunch of stuff going on, I’m not sure exactly what happened. I took my hands off the wheel when I went backwards, and I think some piece of debris came in as I was holding them (my hands) in, kind of just smacked the top of them so I took of bit of beating, but nothing is broken, just some swelling and some cuts. We’ll rest it up and be fine.

“Obviously, I’m just hoping Robbie’s all right. It’s never good to see a car go up (into the fence) like that, but I know he is in good hands. Hopefully we’ll see him back in the car soon.”

Pocono Raceway officials repaired the fence, but some drivers such as Sebastien Bourdais complained the repair was not up to IndyCar standards after he was informed by team engineer Craig Hampson of the condition of the fencing. Bourdais called IndyCar race director Kyle Novak on his mobile phone and was assured IndyCar officials were satisfied with the repair.

After the nearly two-hour stoppage in the race, the contest resumed when the green flag waved on lap 12 with Alexander Rossi in the lead.

He would go on to lead 180 laps in the 200-lap race to score the fifth win of his career. Rossi’s Honda finished 4.4982 seconds head of pole winner Will Power of Team Penske in a Chevrolet. Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon started 13th but, after narrowly avoiding the flying debris from Wickens’ massive crash, finished third.

Rossi’s victory, combined with Dixon’s third place, cut Dixon’s lead over Rossi from 46 points to 29 with three races remaining. The Verizon IndyCar Series returns to action next Saturday night in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park.

The start of the Pocono race was marred when several drivers checked up heading to the green flag, sending Spencer Pigot’s Chevrolet into the back of Graham Rahal’s Honda. Pigot’s car did not return to the race but the first eight laps were run under the yellow flag.

When the green flag waved on lap 7, the field charged around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway before the massive crash in turn 2 stopped the race.

Wickens is a rookie driver at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. After a successful career in the German DTM Series for Mercedes-Benz, he joined IndyCar. He won the pole in his first Verizon IndyCar Series race in the March 11 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and appeared on his way to victory before he was involved in a crash with rival driver Rossi on a restart with two laps to go in the race.

Despite leading five times for 69 laps, Wickens finished 18th in that race.

He entered Sunday’s race sixth in points, 114 behind the leader, Dixon.

After the red flag, the remainder of the 200-lap race was run without another caution period. Many of the drivers admitted they thought about what had happened to Wickens and decided to take a more cautious approach to the remainder of the contest.

“The first thing I asked was if he was OK,” Rossi said when he came around the track and saw the damage and debris. “I saw that Ryan was out of his car. That was a relief.

“Yeah, I mean, it's Rob, it's anyone, doesn't matter who it is. Obviously, you have your friends out there with you. Those ones hit a bit closer to home. At the end of the day, all 22 of us, 33 of us, whatever it may be, are a family. We try our best to look after each other out there. You don't want to see that happen to anyone.

“We'll continue to think of him and pray for him, his family, his fiancée, all that they have to deal with. I hope to talk to him soon, like I said, give him my regards.”

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