Wilson ruled out of Indy 500 due to back injury sustained in crash with Legge

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Stefan Wilson will not take part in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 after injuring his back in a crash during practice yesterday.

The 33-year-old was taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital following his collision with Katherine Legge. Wilson’s Dreyer & Reinbold team confirmed he fractured his 12th thoracic vertebrae in the impact and will be unable to take part in the race.

Wilson’s enforced absence is a blow for the team in the only IndyCar race it contests. He had successfully qualified for the race and was due to line up 25th on the grid in the car D&R is running in co-operation with Cusick Motorsports.

Dreyer & Reinbold’s other car is driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay. The team has not confirmed whether it will field a replacement for Wilson. “The Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports team will have more information in due course,” it said in a statement. If a substitute is confirmed they will only have a single, two-hour practice session on Friday to prepare for Sunday’s race with the full field of drivers.

The crash occured when Wilson was hit from behind by RLL driver Katherine Legge in turn one during yesterday’s eighth official practice session. Both drivers hit the wall – Wilson suffering a head-on impact – then struck the barrier again.

Legge is due to make her third start in the race which she last contested a decade ago. She said she was taken by surprise how quickly the field ahead of her slowed down prior to the collision.

Will Power, who was running further ahead in the queue when the crash happened, said such crashes are more of a hazard during practice than the race.

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“You’ve got to be really on top of [it] because the brake pedal is super-long,” said the reigning IndyCar champion. “When a big pack checks up, it can surprise you, so if I see a bunch of cars up front I always leave a gap and are aware that you can come in and have nowhere to go.

“It’s not like the race where you can never lift. There’s people lifting out of line, trying to get back in, people on different tyre life and such. It can all pack up for you really quickly if you’re not ready.”

Wilson was due to make his fifth start in the race this weekend. His older brother, Justin Wilson, made eight appearances in the Indy 500 but lost his life after he was struck by debris in a crash during an IndyCar race at Pocono in 2015.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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2 comments on “Wilson ruled out of Indy 500 due to back injury sustained in crash with Legge”

  1. Fingers crossed Stefan makes a quick and full recovery!

  2. The impact speed is insane, race is to be wild

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