A severe crash in Friday night’s practice session for the IndyCar Series race at Auto Club Speedway left Russian rookie driver Mikhail Aleshin hospitalized in serious but stable condition.
Aleshin suffered fractured ribs, a broken right clavicle, a concussion and chest injuries in a scary crash that tore down part of the fence in the Turn 4 area. Aleshin was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, IndyCar announced in a statement late Friday night.
The first-year driver for SMP Racing was racing around the 2.0-mile oval when he got low on the track near the apron and spun out. As his car drifted up the banking, Charlie Kimball was unable to avoid him and T-boned Aleshin’s racing machine. The impact sent Aleshin’s car airborne and into the fence where it dug into the wire meshing, which sent the car into two or three additional spins. The front wheel assembly was lodged into the fencing and the pole before Aleshin’s car came back onto the track.
Marco Andretti narrowly missed Aleshin and ended up spinning to completely miss Aleshin’s destroyed race car.
“I saw smoke but man it’s hard to slow down from 220 (miles per hour). I almost crashed myself and ended up spinning to the inside and missed the wall but my concerns are with Mikhail right now,” Andretti said. “I didn’t see exactly how it hit because I was trying to slow down. I almost got hit by the safety vehicle but I wasn’t looking so that was my fault.”
This year’s Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay drove through the debris and said it looked like the car was torn up near his feet.
The 27-year-old Aleshin also had several run-ins with Sebastien Bourdais earlier in the season, and he was involved in an unusual crash with Juan Pablo Montoya in Toronto.
Montoya was stalled in a tire barrier when Aleshin spun into the back of his car. Aleshin then slid under Montoya, leaving tire marks on Aleshin’s helmet and requiring a tow truck to lift Montoya’s car off Aleshin.
Although IndyCar racing on ovals can be spectacular, the risk factor is high. Dan Wheldon was killed in a 15-car accident in the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas, another high-banked oval.
The IndyCar series finale is scheduled for Saturday night. Aleshin was eighth in qualifying earlier Friday, easily the best finish by a rookie.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
