In Saturday morning’s practice session from Road America, the current series champion Will Power and the six-time champion Scott Dixon came together on track and nearly destroyed both of their cars.
After climbing from his wrecked car, Power shook his fists at Dixon, then walked over and shoved him nearly off his feet.
Dixon was clearly at fault for the incident, as he misjudged a track re-entry after spinning off in Canada Corner. He moved to the far side of the track in an attempt to stay out of the way, but Power was coming through at speed and the two crashed hard.
Both drivers’ cars suffered heavy damage, and had to be carried via tow truck back to the paddock.
Power gathered his emotions by time he was released from the infield care center, and Dixon readily admitted fault for the collision.
The crews for both Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing will be scrambling to get repairs done, or a backup car ready, as qualifying is scheduled for two hours after practice.
The Ganassi team will be scrambling extra hard as Alex Palou also suffered damage during the session. The Spaniard lost control entering the final corner and launched his #10 across the gravel and hard into the tire barrier.
Palou could well be forced to run a backup car for qualifying as well considering how much damage was done to the car.
Other drivers had trouble as well during the 45-minute session. Colton Herta and Santino Ferrucci each spun off course and needed to be restarted by the safety crew.
Simon Pagenaud also lost control in the final corner as time expired, and his car just barely stopped before hitting the same section of barriers that destroyed Palou’s car.
In all, there were five red flag sessions to interrupt running, giving drivers precious little time to figure out how hard they can push the limit.
Despite the disruptions, Alexander Rossi once again topped the timesheets in his Arrow McLaren Chevy. He was nearly a full second faster than his fast time on Friday, and was only just over one second slower than the all-time course record.
Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top three positions, each improving on their performances from the day before.
David Malukas continued his good pace and ended fourth on the timesheets for Saturday’s session, and the rookie Marcus Armstrong was just behind in fifth.
If they can repaired in time, all 27 cars will be back on track at 12:55 PM Central Time for a knockout qualifying session on the fast and tricky course.
