Felix Rosenqvist has been released from a Detroit hospital one day after his violent crash Saturday, according to his team, Arrow McLaren SP.
Rosenqvist appeared in trouble during Saturday’s race as he entered the sixth turn at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. With no way to stop or slow his car, the Swede slammed into a tire barrier with enough force to move the retaining wall.
Just before he was released from the hospital, Rosenqvist reflected on the crash in an Instagram post and said he is hoping to recover for next Sunday’s race at Road America.
Rosenqvist is being replaced for Sunday’s race by Oliver Askew, who had brought his own helmet to the track but had to borrow the rest of his uniform. He was given the Arrow firesuit that Juan Pablo Montoya wore two weeks ago in the Indianapolis 500 and borrowed a pair of racing shoes from Alex Palou.
Askew drove 12 races last year in the No. 7 car but was fired at the end of the season and replaced by Rosenqvist. He will start 23rd in the 25-driver field after Sunday morning’s qualifying session marked his first laps in the car.
« There’s nothing like qualifying first thing in the morning. It beats coffee, for sure, » said Askew, who was at the track until about 1 a.m. as Arrow McLaren SP repaired Rosenqvist’s car for Sunday’s race.
Josef Newgarden won the 12th pole of his career in the qualifying session, which ended abruptly when Santino Ferrucci crashed hard into the wall. It put Rahal Letterman Lanigan on the clock with roughly 90 minutes to repair the damage before the start of the race.
Arrow McLaren SP has been vague on what caused Rosenqvist to crash at what the driver estimated to be 100 mph into a tire barrier. It appeared his throttle had stuck, and the impact was so violent that Rosenqvist drove through six rows of tires and bent the retaining wall.
The team said only that an investigation of the crash « eliminated driver error or any issues related to Chevrolet systems and software, including involving the throttle system.
« The sequence of events has been clearly established and the root cause identified as a singular, nonrecurrent mechanical fault, » Arrow McLaren SP said. « The remedy has already been implemented and the team is confident that the issue is now fully resolved. »
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.espn.com/racing/story/_/id/31624823/indycar-felix-rosenqvist-released-hospital-day-major-crash
