Alonso Crashes During Final Hour of Practice at Indy

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Fernando Alonso became the first accident during on-track activities on Thursday in preparation for the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500.

With 49 minutes remaining in second day of practice, Alonso’s No. 66 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet ran on the bottom lane and clipped the gray berm that sits below the white line at the entry of Turn 4. It snapped his car sideways and took a shunt towards the inside wall. Alonso’s wounded car would go for a spin before resting at the entrance of pit road.

Full course yellow during practice after an on-track incident with @alo_oficial.

Currently 43 minutes remain in the session. #INDYCAR // #Indy500 pic.twitter.com/AZbSIPJXAi

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) August 13, 2020

Alonso would get out of his car unharmed, hoping that Thursday is just a hiccup in his bid of winning the Indianapolis 500.

“When you lose the car, you lose the grip in the corner. This place is where the walls are coming very close,” Alonso on the accident. “That’s the way it is and unfortunately it happened again today. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen (next) Sunday.”

Running behind Alonso was James Davison, who was far behind to avoid the accident. Davison told his team over the radio that two things might’ve happened that led to his accident.

“Yeah, thankfully. I was just far enough behind,” said Davison. “I don’t know if he got high or got little bit loose in the center.”

As far as needing to go into a backup car, which Arrow McLaren SP has one fully prepared, cosmetic right side damage signified the Chevrolet is repairable.

“I think it’s going to be repaired. It shouldn’t be too bad, but I didn’t check,” Alonso when asked if a backup was necessary. “I’ll have to rely on the team, but it should be fine.”

Alonso ran 126 laps in the six-plus hour practice session and his fastest speed of 224.363 mph was good enough for eighth overall.