Alexander Rossi finally has some good news. The Ed Carpenter Racing star has been cleared to race in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 after a major crash during practice earlier this week. He told reporters on Thursday that he is 99% at the moment. However, all is good.
What happened to Alexander Rossi?
Rossi suffered injuries to his ankle and hand after spinning in Turn 2 during practice before his car was struck by Pato O’Ward. The veteran driver underwent surgery Monday night and has since begun recovery while Ed Carpenter Racing continued preparing his backup car for Sunday’s race.
Will still wear crutches
Despite still relying on crutches, Rossi expressed confidence about his condition heading into race weekend. “For what I need to do in a race car, I’m 99%,” he told reporters.
Both Rossi and Ed Carpenter Racing have remained optimistic throughout the week that he will be medically cleared to compete.
Ed Carpenter Racing has a backup car prepped
Immediately after the crash, Ed Carpenter Racing shifted focus toward preparing Rossi’s backup car in Gasoline Alley while doctors monitored his recovery. The team always expected Rossi to use the backup entry – which will still start second on the grid.
“I feel like with where he (Rossi) is at, everybody from the doctors to Alex is super optimistic he’s going to be ready to go,” team president Tim Broyles told The Associated Press. “So as we’re sitting here today, I don’t feel like we’ll have any concerns moving forward, If one of the milestones he needs to hit over the next few days doesn’t happen or he’s not comfortable, we have a backup plan.”
Broyles admitted the organization has also quietly reviewed emergency replacement options, which is standard procedure at Indianapolis after major crashes.
“Every team executive has a list of backup drivers they can call in a pinch,” the report noted.
If weather disrupts Friday running, IndyCar officials are reportedly considering allowing drivers involved in Monday’s crash to complete systems checks Saturday instead. Broyles sounded encouraged by Rossi’s condition after speaking with him Tuesday morning.
“He’s in good spirits, yeah, he sounded good this morning,” Broyles said. “It was a big impact. He has a couple little, nagging things, so we’ll see how that goes.”
Backup car already familiar to Rossi
One major advantage for Rossi is that the backup car is already a proven Indianapolis machine. According to Broyles, it is the same car Rossi drove during last year’s Indy 500 and also used recently in the Indianapolis Grand Prix weekend.
“It’s a bit of work for the guys, but the car he’s running is actually the car he ran in the 500 last year,” Broyles said. “He raced the car in the (Indianapolis) GP last weekend, we had it prepared as a backup car for the 500 anyway after the GP so we were already kind of prepared for it anyway but I don’t have any concerns over it. Alex led the race with it last year.”
Rossi’s second-place starting position remains his best career Indy 500 qualifying effort.
Pato O’Ward and others also rebuilding
The crash created a hectic week for multiple teams ahead of Sunday’s race. Arrow McLaren canceled scheduled downtime Wednesday to rebuild O’Ward’s damaged car after the Mexican driver slammed into Rossi’s spinning entry.
O’Ward qualified sixth and is also expected to race using a backup chassis. Meanwhile, Conor Daly and Romain Grosjean were also caught up in the incident.
Daly’s team repaired significant damage after he ran over debris from the crash.
“Hopefully the (crew) guys can get that all fixed up. I am still quite happy with the car overall,” Daly said. “It would be nice to get some more running and we got some very pit stops in today too. Hopefully, the Carb Day weather is good so we can get some laps in before the race.”
