The first attempt at going green for the Honda Indy Toronto would not go successfully for Will Power and the events that followed brought forth frustration and confusion.
As the cars came for the green, Power lost traction, spinning around and hitting the turn 10 wall. The contact was significant enough to break suspension parts on the left side. Power’s team immediately went to work, repairing the damage in 21 minutes, before returning his car back to the grid. If the event had not been rained out, INDYCAR would have allowed Power to restart last on the field. Fellow competitors were not pleased with INDYCAR’s decision to allow the repairs to be made under the red flag.
“I guess things have changed mightily as you used to not be able to work on the car under the red flag, and now you can do whatever you want to do,” A.J Foyt commented. Michael Andretti also expressed frustration in saying it is a “clear violation of the rules”.
INDYCAR Chief of Competition and Operations Derrick Walker said they allowed Power due to no laps complete and because of the track circumstances.
“The fact is the race hadn’t started yet, and its like when you miss getting your spot on grid so I don’t see a problem,” Penske’s Tim Cindric said.
Though interestingly, past races with a wreck on the start have brough out cautions with laps counting.
“I feel those laps should have counted as we did take the green so they should not be sllowed to work on their cars,” Graham Rahal said.
With the day being a wash and the race set for Sunday, it does not matter as officials will treat the race as if Saturday did not happen.
