ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — A wild practice session that included five red flags saw tempers flare, including an incident between two of the greatest NTT IndyCar Series drivers of this era Saturday morning at Road America.
With 33 minutes left in the session for Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon had spun in turn 12, was in the runoff and spun his car around to return to the track. He let Romain Grosjean’s Honda by before he drove back into the racing lane.
That happened to be into the side of Will Power’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, sending both cars into turn 13.
An enraged Power unbuckled out of his car and approached Dixon, who was taking off his helmet and Balaclava. Power was visibly yelling at Dixon, his arms flailing and as Dixon attempted to explain what happened, Power grabbed and pushed Dixon.
Members of the AMR Safety Team were quickly able to intercede and de-escalate the situation.
“Scott moved abruptly, and I was coming,” Power said. “I really didn’t expect him to move. It’s such a pity. I had a really good car We’ll try to repair it.
“I said I didn’t expect such an abrupt move. Yeah, not a good situation, but these things happen.”
Dixon also spoke of the incident after he was released from medical.
“We were on really old tires, almost 20 lap tires, trying to get a balance check,” Dixon explained. “I spun going into turn 12. I saw Grosjean in my mirror. I didn’t realize Power was even there. I’m really sorry that happened.
“A mistake on my behalf and I’m really frustrated for wrecking our car and his car as well.
“We had a coming together when we got out of the car, and he was fine after that. Everybody gets fired up and he was calm afterwards. I just feel really bad for the situation.”
Both drivers were able to talk it out in the medical vehicle that took them to the IndyCar Medical Unit to be checked out.
Both were cleared and released.
A few minutes before the multi-car incident involving Dixon and Power, NTT IndyCar Series points leader Alex Palou slammed into the tire barrier in turn 14 in a vicious wreck. The 2021 IndyCar Series champion was uninjured, but his No. 10 American Legion Honda was brought back to the paddock on a hook on the tow truck.
Palou was confident the Chip Ganassi Racing team could get his car repaired in time for Saturday afternoon’s qualifications.
A few minutes after the Power and Dixon incident, Benjamin Pedersen spun out in turn 12 in the same area where Dixon had spun out earlier.
That was the third red flag stoppage of the session, eating away at valuable practice time as teams continued to get a grip on the newly repaved track surface.
Colton Herta also spun in Canada Corner with 5:50 left in the session for the fourth red flag of the session.
The session came close to the scheduled end, but the green flag waved with 3:40 left in the session.
It never made it to the finish before Simon Pagenaud beached the No. 60 Honda, and the red flag waved for the fifth time, ending the session early with 1:21 left in the session.
Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren was the fastest driver in the session at 1:40.9112 in the No. 7 Chevrolet around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile road course. Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport was second at 1:41.0584 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow McLaren was third in the No. 6 Chevrolet at 1:41.2572 followed by David Malukas’ Honda at 1:41.3010 and Marcus Armstrong’s No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at 1:41.3488.