Day 1 of Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 was brought to a halt for more than half an hour when Sebastien Bourdais crashed hard at turn two at the beginning of his third lap when on course to make it into the Fast Nine Shootout for pole position.
The Dale Coyne Racing driver has been on the pace so far this month and had been the first driver to hit 231mph during the qualifying session, but his car got loose at turn two, and hit the wall violently hard.
The #18 Geico-sponsored car rolled before stopping mid-way down the back straight, with the Holmatro Safety Crew attending to the Frenchman almost immediately the car came to rest. He was said to be awake and alert, and was seen trying to open his visor as the crew arrived on the scene.
Bourdais was extracted and taken to IU Health at Methodist Hospital, with his participation in Sunday’s second qualifying session in serious doubt.
As it stands after the first eighteen cars, Scott Dixon sits at the top of the time sheets with a four-lap average of 230.333mph for Chip Ganassi Racing, with Will Power, Fernando Alonso and Tony Kanaan also over 230mph. Seven of the top nine currently are Honda powered, with only Power and Team Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves representing Chevrolet.
