Robert Wickens injured, IndyCar race delayed two hours after violent crash

IndyCar driver Robert Wickens was taken by helicopter for medical treatment following a violent wreck at the start of Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway, where a driver was killed in 2015.

IndyCar said Wickens was awake and alert as he was transported. The 29-year-old Canadian driver was attempting to pass Ryan Hunter-Reay when the two cars slightly touched. That caused Hunter-Reay’s car to careen into the wall, and Wickens’ car was pulled along. Wickens’ car soared over Hunter-Reay’s, hit the fence and spun like a top. The fencing was shredded and Wickens’ car was reduced to just the tub, which came to a rest on the track along an interior wall. Multiple other cars were also caught up in the crash.

Medical workers calmly attended to Wickens, who was taken to an ambulance before he was transported to the helicopter. The impact of the wreck tore out a large section of fencing that IndyCar said would take at least one hour to repair. The race was red flagged and drivers were allowed out of their cars.

Justin Wilson died from a head injury in 2015 when a piece of debris from a crashed car bounced off the track at Pocono Raceway and hit his helmet.

Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Pietro Fittipaldi and Takuma Sato were among the drivers collected in Sunday’s wreck. Hinchcliffe seemed to be in pain, grabbing his wrists as he slowly left his car. Hinchcliffe was cleared and released from the medical center. He declined to comment to reporters out of respect for Wickens.

“That’s the worst thing you can see. He’s hurt. He’s awake and alert and at least he’s alive,” driver Sebastien Bourdais said.

The race was delayed nearly two hours, and only eight laps in the 500-mile race had been completed because of Wickens’ crash and another accident. Graham Rahal got into the back of Spencer Pigot before the race even got to green. Pigot spun and hit the wall.

“We can only hope one thing, that Robbie, Hinch and everyone involved is ok,” Rahal tweeted during the delay. “These are the dangers we face, but we always hate to see it. The start can be debated for years, but doesn’t matter right now, focus on the well being of our friends and competitors.”

Hinchcliffe is a teammate of Wickens on the all-Canadian team. The two raced each other as youngsters in Toronto; Hinchcliffe, runner-up on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” in 2017, helped lure Wickens to IndyCar this season after a successful career in Europe.

The crash was a grim reminder how drivers in open-wheel racing put their lives on the line.

Hinchcliffe survived his own life-threatening injury when a broken part from his car pierced an artery during a 2015 crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hinchcliffe would have bled to death if not for the medical team holding the artery together as it raced him from the track to a hospital.

A year earlier, Hinchcliffe suffered a concussion when he was hit in the helmet by a piece of debris on the road course at Indianapolis.