The fourth round of this year's IndyCar season was dominated by a huge crash at the start of the race, involving drivers Carlos Munoz, Mikhail Aleshin and Sebastian Saavedra. Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard was hit by a piece of the flying debris, but got away with just a scratch on his arm.
Arguably not as great as the infamous Indianapolis 500, the inaugural IndyCar Indianapolis Grand Prix was chock-full of dramatic moments. As soon as the lights went green, pole-sitter Sebastian Saavedra stalled his car.
Shortly after, Carlos Munoz clipped the KVSH Racing driver's vehicle, which was then slammed hard from behind by Russian driver Mikhail Aleshin, at an estimated 120 miles per hour.
Fortunately, all three racing drivers walked away with minor injuries from the horrible crash, by the power of their own feet. Because the pit road wasn't protected by a safety fence just like in Formula 1, the mayor of Indianapolis was struck in the elbow by sharp debris after waving the green flag.
As for collateral damage, Martin Plowman's crash helmet was slightly damaged by a hard piece of flying debris, while the right rear corner of Mike Conway's car suffered a light thwack. Even though most fans were captivated by the drama surrounding the opening-lap carnage, the race proved to be a great spectacle in terms of side-by-side action and fuel strategy.
French driver Simon Pagenaud took first place for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, while fuel-starved Ryan Hunter-Reay managed an honorable second. The third driver to finish on a podium position was Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves, who settled for a well-deserved third.
Check out the video below and have your say about the horrifying crash.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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