By Luis Torres, Staff Writer
It was a rough welcome to the NTT IndyCar Series moment for rookie Rinus VeeKay, who crashed in the opening minutes of rookie practice at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday. Not only him, but his boss man Ed Carpenter also had a moment in the lone practice session.
In preparation for the Genesys 300 later tonight at 8:00 pm EST on NBC, VeeKay was among the five drivers (others being Oliver Askew, Jack Harvey, Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou) who were given an additional 30 minutes to navigate the 1.5-mile oval.
After setting a speed of 206.893 mph, VeeKay clipped the white line in Turn 3 which led him losing control of his No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet and slammed the wall. Thus, the first accident of the INDYCAR season had unfolded.
The green flag is back out for #Genesy300 practice after this incident involving @rinusveekay at @TXMotorSpeedway.
Watch: https://t.co/zyZcawU8vZ#Genesys300 // #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/wiSqUYoIr5
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 6, 2020
Once his wounded car laid to rest near pit entry, VeeKay told his team over the radio that he’s sorry for the rookie mistake as the team will now work on getting a car ready for qualifying.
“It’s very tough. I have to call it a rookie mistake for going too low. I’ll definitely learn from this,” said VeeKay. “It’s quite hard getting into a car without doing any sim work. You’re just trying to get there as quick as possible. You can make a rookie mistake, it’s done.”
Live coverage of qualifying begins at 5:00 pm EST on NBCSN. For VeeKay (who ended up fastest in the 30-minute session), that’s where his mind will shift towards as that’ll be the next time he’ll get track time.
“I’ll look on the data and I’ll try to look as much as possible to what Ed is doing,” said VeeKay. “I’ll reset for qualifying and hopefully it’s going to be okay.”
Carpenter’s practice run didn’t fare much better as he lost control of his No. 20 Chevrolet in Turn 4. Understeering is what led to his spin, only sustaining minor scrapes on his rear wing, but did ended up having flat rear tires.
The green flag is back out for #Genesy300 practice after this incident involving @edcarpenter20 at @TXMotorSpeedway.
Watch: https://t.co/zyZcawU8vZ#Genesys300 // #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/sUQWrx2kce
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 6, 2020
In his tenure at the track, Carpenter was 12th fastest up to that point at 209.309 mph. Minutes later, Carpenter got back into his car and logged more laps. Once the session ended, he ended up 18th at a 211.154 mph.
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