INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Dixon’s opinion about Sunday’s crash hasn’t modified, nor has Pato O’Ward’s respect for the six-time IndyCar champion.
4 days after the 2 drivers tangled in Lengthy Seashore, they arrived for the primary of two Indianapolis 500 check classes with out talking to at least one one other.
“No,” Dixon stated when requested if his perspective had modified. “I assumed it was fairly wild there was no penalty on each vehicles. But when that is how it’ll be, then that is what they should stick with. However it appeared like there was no race management there.”
The dispute started after O’Ward dove inside Dixon heading into the eighth flip of the road course. When their tires touched on Lap 20, Dixon went nostril first right into a tire barrier as O’Ward navigated his method by means of the contact and drove to a seventeenth place end.
Dixon managed to finish 17 extra laps after dropping from sixth to twenty fifth earlier than turning into the primary automotive to drop out of the race. After Dixon’s quest for record-tying seventh collection crown took a success, the 42-year-old veteran stated he wouldn’t have made the transfer. The New Zealander’s spouse, Emma, additionally complained on social media that inconsistent calls give the collection a nasty look.
The 23-year-old O’Ward, in the meantime, made the same transfer in the identical flip later within the race and spun. The Mexican driver wound up getting shuffled again within the pack, slipping from the general factors result in second.
O’Ward appeared in no hurry to patch issues up.
“I truly have not seen [Dixon]. I attempted to search for him within the driver’s assembly and I noticed Marcus [Ericsson], I noticed [Alex] Palou and I noticed [Takuma] Sato,” O’Ward stated earlier than taking a lighter stance. “I did not see Scott, although. I will give him a giant bear hug.”
O’Ward downplayed the dispute with Dixon.
“We’re massive boys. The man’s most likely been by means of it many occasions in his profession and it is most likely not going to be the final time we now have a disagreement on monitor,” O’Ward stated. “However it undoubtedly does not take away from the respect. He is my hero. He was certainly one of my heroes rising up. Simply because we had a bit of incident on monitor, folks made it seem to be it was the top of the world. However it was, you realize, racing.”
Disputes amongst drivers over on-track conduct are customary fare. How lengthy they linger and whether or not they truly dissipate usually relies on if or how they’re resolved. And that is not at all times a easy apology.
“You by no means ought to dispute proper after the race,” four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves stated. “You have to settle down, analyze movies and in the event you nonetheless imagine you are on the proper facet then the one who believes he is proper ought to name and say, ‘Why? What had been you considering?'”
That might nonetheless occur earlier than the collection returns to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama subsequent week.
Throughout Thursday’s prolonged follow session on a heat, windy day, Ericsson, the Swedish defending Indy 500 champ and Dixon’s teammate with Chip Ganassi Racing, posted the quickest lap within the morning portion at 224.330 mile per hour (361.02 kph).
Whereas there was chatter about R.C. Enerson probably turning into the thirty fourth driver to try to qualify for the Might 28 race — an entry that might guarantee bumping subsequent month — Brazilian Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, accomplished his refresher course. He’s hoping to make his twenty second consecutive, and presumably, closing 500 begin.
“It will not be the identical, so I will get pleasure from it,” Kanaan stated, acknowledging one other looming retirement. “We accomplished the 2 hours, so we took it again to make some changes and we’ll run as a lot as we will.”
That was a typical method with Friday’s forecast calling for a robust likelihood of rain. As a result of monitor employees usually want 2 1/2 to a few hours to dry the monitor, Friday could possibly be rained out.
“Two hours goes quick,” two-time collection champ Josef Newgarden stated. “It appears to be like uncertain we’ll run [Friday] so everybody’s type of jamming every thing into