Ed Carpenter joins teammate Josef Newgarden and Helio Castroneves as the latest Chevrolet driver to crash and flip during practice for the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Carpenter spun as he hit the apex of turn 2 and hit the wall before the rear of the car went up and over. The rear of the car made contact with the catchfenceing before the car slid down the backstretch on its roof, much similar to his Carpenter Fisher Hartman Racing teammate Josef Newgarden’s crash in turn 1 on Wednesday.
Safety crews were on the scene immediately and Carpenter escaped unhurt. He was cleared by the medical center to drive after the required checkup.
He will be able to qualify for the race in his backup car, but if his backup car is not ready in time to qualify (the 20T is 3rd in line) he will only be able to qualify on the last row.
The catch fence was damaged by the accident and is under repair, delaying practice. Qualifying was set to begin at 10 a.m. ET, but the schedule is being redetermined by IndyCar officials.
Following the accident, the boost levels for qualifying have been reduced back to the traditional level of 30 kpa rather than to 40 kpa that was allotted for qualifying. Chevrolet has also been instructed to not run their “qualifying ramps” which were on all three cars when they flipped.
