The start of an IndyCar race in Detroit was delayed when a General Motors executive driving the pace car crashed into a wall.
No one was seriously injured in the crash, but it delayed the race about 30 minutes.
Mark Reuss was driving when the 563kW supercharged Corvette ZR1 spun and crashed during a pace lap just before the race's scheduled start time. Team Chevy blamed the weather and track conditions.
Reuss is product development chief for Detroit-based GM. On Facebook, he says he let down his family and GM. He says, "Sorry does not describe it."
Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of global product development. Photo / AP
A manager with IndyCar, Mark Sandy, was a passenger.
Ryan Hunter-Reay went on to win the race, in his first IndyCar victory since 2015. He says the delay was "no big deal."
New Zealander Scott Dixon continued his good form by finishing fourth in the second race of the Detroit Dual on Monday to remain second in the standings.
After a slow start to the season Dixon has roared back into contention over the past week with a good haul of points at Indianapolis a week ago, a win yesterday on the Belle Isle street circuit and now another big point-scoring finish.
Scott Dixon drives through the eighth turn during the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix auto racing doubleheader. Photo / AP
Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race on the back of making a three-stop strategy work better. He was challenging teammate Alexander Rossi for the lead of the race with less than 10 laps to go when Rossi locked his tyres badly and ran off the circuit.
It handed Hunter-Reay the victory and proved extremely costly for former Indy 500 winner Rossi, who lost the lead of the championship as a result.
"After I took that second set of blacks I started getting in-sync with the car and the balance started coming to me," Hunter-Reay said. "I was really worried at the beginning because it was really loose.
"But once I got into a rhythm the car was doing everything I needed it to do.
"It was such a great car."
This year's Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power finished second while Dixon's Chip Ganassi teammate Ed Jones completed the podium.
Power took over the lead of the championship while Dixon as just a handful of points back in second.
Dixon's fourth place finish capped a top weekend for the four-time championship winner. He won his 42nd career race on Sunday to move into a share of third all-time alongside Michael Andretti. He still trails legendary AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti by a long way.
The race was delayed by over half an hour after the safety car crashed during the warm-up lap in an embarrassing moment for the series. Cars were forced back into the pits while they cleaned up the mess and removed the damaged car.
The series moves back to an oval track next week at Texas Motor Speedway.
-NZ Herald, AP