A Swedish IndyCar driver was headed to a hospital Saturday following a violent crash into a tires-and-concrete barrier during the first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader at Belle Isle Raceway in Detroit.
In-car video of the collision replayed on NBC Sports appeared to reveal that the vehicle’s throttle was open or stuck, and it did not appear that the driver hit the brakes as it careened into the barrier at nearly full speed in turn 6.
The driver, 29-year-old Felix Rosenqvist, was conscious and moving, but stayed in the vehicle as a safety team in a pickup rushed to the scene and pulled him out of his No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet, carrying him away on a stretcher.
IndyCar’s director of medical services, Dr. Geoffrey Billows, told NBC Sports that “Felix is doing fine.”
“He was conscious and alert the whole time,” he added. “No loss of sensation anywhere. No loss of function.”
Still, Billows said, Rosenqvist would be taken from a medical facility to a hospital for advanced imaging and a more “definitive evaluation,” the doctor said.
The crash happened on lap 28 of 70 laps. The race was stopped under a red flag, but was expected to resume after track workers reinstalled the barriers and cleaned debris.
Scott Dixon was leading the race; James Hinchcliffe was in the next position.
“Our thoughts are with Rosenqvist,” driver Alexander Rossi told NBC Sports.
The open-wheel race is part of the NTT IndyCar Series’ weekend doubleheader.
