The Indianapolis 500 has been temporarily halted under red flag conditions after Scott Dixon and Jay Howard were involved in a high-speed crash on lap 52.
Howard, already a few laps down after running out of fuel during his first stint, ran wide and hit the outside wall at the exit of turn one, breaking the Schmidt Peterson Motorsport machine’s front suspension, which made him a passenger as he came down the circuit.
Tony Kanaan managed to get passed the ailing Briton but the following Dixon was not so lucky, hitting the back of Howard’s car and going airborne before landing on the inside wall and coming to rest on the inside of turn two.
Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing machine was destroyed in the incident, with the engine and rear suspension detaching itself from the main chassis, but luckily the New Zealander was quickly out of the car, as was Howard.
Both drivers were taken to the medical centre as a precaution, with the Holmatro Safety Team doing a tremendous job to be on the scene of the incident almost before the cars had come to a rest.
With the safety catch fencing damaged, officials brought out the red flags, with Fernando Alonso in the lead for McLaren Honda Andretti ahead of team-mates Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato.
