.- The second day of practice of the 500 Miles of Indianapolis ended with more pain than glory for the Spanish driver Fernando Alonso who crashed in the morning session and could not return to the track in the afternoon.
Alonso has two more days to tune the McLaren Indy. The trainings will continue Thursday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the qualification rounds will be held for the race that will take place on Sunday, May 26.
Alonso, who was unharmed by the accident, could only complete 46 laps and reach a maximum speed of 362,799 kilometers per hour, far from the numbers reached by the fastest riders.
Today’s day was dominated by Josef Newgarden, of Team Penske, with a maximum speed of 368.308 kilometers per hour. Newgarden was followed by Scott Dixon, Spencer Pigot and Santino Ferrucci.
The Newgarden and Pigot cars are powered by Chevrolet engines, the same that equips the Alonso McLaren Indy. Dixon and Ferrucci have Honda engines.
The other Spaniard in the competition, the Catalan Oriol Serviá, who with number 77 is part of the Team Stange Racing, finished the day in position 19 with a maximum speed of 364,810 kilometers per hour after completing 88 laps.
Although McLaren Indy tried to repair the number 66 of Alonso to participate in the training session in the afternoon, the damage suffered by the car made it impossible to go on the track before the end of the circuit.
The accident and the loss of most of the second day of training is added to the setbacks suffered yesterday by Alonso’s car that also could not circulate in the afternoon session due to apparently electrical problems.
In the first two days of practice, Alonso was only able to complete 96 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the legendary American race will take place on May 26.
Meanwhile, riders such as Ed Carpenter or Sebastien Bourdais have been able to do more than two laps in the first two days of practice. On the other hand, Serviá has completed 148.
The impact of Alonso against the wall at the exit of the curve number 3 was the first of the trainings of the 103 edition of the Indianapolis 500 but not the only one.
In the afternoon session, rookie Felix Rosenqvist, of the Chip Ganassi team, also jammed against the wall and ended up crashing against protections located in the inner part of the circuit. Rosenqvist was also unharmed.
In the case of Alonso’s accident, the Spanish driver acknowledged that he had made a mistake by relying too much on the grip of his new McLaren Indy.
Alonso’s car hit the wall at the exit of the third corner of the oval, bounced back inside the circuit and, after hitting the inner wall, ended up again on the track, at the entrance of the fourth curve.
“Error on my part, underestimating the grip on turn 3. I feel sorry for the team and the people who will now have to work hard.
Lesson learned. We will return with more strength in the afternoon or tomorrow, “explained Alonso in his Twitter account.
Speaking to the media, Alonso said that once he made the mistake, he could not do anything to avoid the wall.
“Even if I had lifted my foot off the accelerator at the entrance of the curve, it was not enough, I completely lost the front, the wall came too close and too quickly, unfortunately, it happened today and we will lose a bit of time again,” he declared. the double champion of the world championship of Formula 1.
The sporting director of McLaren Racing, Gil de Ferrán, said that despite the accident the team has to remain focused.
“I think it’s key to be calm, assess the situation properly and design a plan to follow, it’s an obligation to recover, our team is new but it has a lot of good and experienced people, including Fernando who is a true professional,” said De Ferrán. (EFE)
