Conor Daly will take Simon Pagenaud’s place in today’s IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio.
The Meyer Shank driver was not cleared to compete in today’s race after the huge crash he suffered during practice yesterday.Pagenuad’s car was launched into a terrifying series of barrel rolls after he suffered what the team called “a manufacturer brake failure” as he approached turn four at the track.
Following checks at the IndyCar medical centre, Pagenaud was not cleared to take part in qualifying yesterday. Although he could have taken part in the race today from the back of the grid, he was again not cleared following further medical checks today.
Pagenaud’s absence means Daly will make a return to the series one race after being dropped by Ed Carpenter Racing, who he started the season with. Ryan Hunter-Reay replaced him from the last race at Road America.
Daly will drive the car for the first time in the warm-up ahead of today’s race. “Obviously I have to think about Simon, you hate to see someone wreck like that,” he said.
“The most important thing is to get him as healthy as possible, as soon as possible. This is his car and his group of folks and I am here to do the best job that I can for this team.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Daly has previously tested for Mika Shank’s sports car team. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for this organisation,” he said. “It’s an honour to be a part of this group and fill in – we will just do the best job that we can.”
Shank said he was grateful Pagenaud was largely unhurt after his major crash.
“First and foremost, I have to speak to the safety of these cars,” said Shank. “To walk away from an accident like that is incredible and we cannot thank everyone at IndyCar, the AMR IndyCar safety team and the IndyCar medical team for everything they did to get Simon out and evaluated as quickly as possible.”
Daly will drive the team’s spare car today, which is the same chassis Helio Castroneves used to win the 2021 Indianapolis 500.
“This is obviously not a scenario that we had planned for, but everyone at MSR has pitched in to get our back-up car ready for Sunday,” said Shank. “It’s actually Helio’s Indy 500 car and the one he won the 500 with in 2021.
“We have to thank Conor for being here and stepping into this, he’s been super great through all of the chaos. Now we will get back on our feet and see what we can do in the race.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 F1 season
- FIA president cleared of alleged interference in two 2023 races
- First week viewing figures for new Drive to Survive season fall again
- Max who? Drive to Survive season six prefers its favourite faces
- RaceFans’ complete 2023 season review
- The F1 drivers who pulled off the 10 biggest charges through the field in 2023
