It seemed fitting that a race featuring caution after caution would end with a caution, but the final caution that ended the race featured the biggest wreck of the race. It also left Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud in a disagreement.
Coming off turn three, the pair would end up running three-wide with Sebastien Bourdais. Hunter-Reay, looking to give Bourdais room to his left, moved to the right. However, when he did that, he crossed into the path of Pagenaud. The result would be Pagenaud going off of the racing surface, and going through the grass, before returning to the track in the apex of corner. He would make contact with Bourdais and Hunter-Reay, resulting in Hunter-Reay’s car leaving the ground and the back wheel barely missing Bourdais’ helmet. The three cars then slid into the grass, with Bourdais eventually hitting the tire barrier.
Pagenaud would go over to both drivers following the wreck, discussing what happened.
“I’m not sure what Hunter-Reay was thinking there,” he said. “He just drove us off the track and I’m just glad everyone is OK. I want to thank the fans for staying with us this weekend despite the weather. I think the No. 22 Chevy team will be able to come back strong at Long Beach.”
Bourdais also put the blame on Hunter-Reay’s shoulders for the incident, saying that he was side-by-side with Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay made it three-wide.
“On the last restart I was on the inside and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) came up and made it three wide with Simon (Pagenaud),” Bourdais stated. “Ryan pushed Simon into the grass. He then came back on track with no control and could not avoid collecting me, ending our race.”
Hunter-Reay rebuttled, though, saying that there was no room for Pagenaud to be out on the outside where he went.
“(Sebastien) Bourdais, is on my left, I don’t know where to go at that point. I’m using my regular racing line – (Pagenaud) stuck his nose out there (and was off the racing line)… And just cleans us all out,” Hunter-Reay said. “I’m happy all three of us are uninjured. (Pagenaud) said I ran him out of room, but there just was no room in the first place. I don’t know what to say to that – it’s certainly a racing incident but there wasn’t a whole lot of room there to begin with. Disappointing way to end the day, we were looking for a strong finish with the DHL Honda.”
The incident marks a disappointment for all three drivers as they had started off the year well at St. Petersburg, with Pagenaud finishing fourth in his first start with Team Penske, followed by Bourdais in sixth and Hunter-Reay in seventh. Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay had also ran up front during the race, both running as high as fourth, before the strategy took over. Meanwhile, for Bourdais, it was just a frustrating weekend all around.
“It was never going to be a good day, but now with the damage to the car it is a shame because this was going to be my Indy 500 car,” he said.
