Former Indy500 winner Dario Franchitti’s preparations for next Sunday’s 93rd running of America’s Blue Riband event were cut short after a piece of a brick, from the yard of bricks at the start-finish line at the famous Indianapolis superspeedway, came loose.
The brick struck the underside of the car driven by Mario Moraes who had just completed a lap of the 2.5-mile circuit at an average of 222.530mph, just 0.269mph slower than Franchitti’s Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon.
“It must have been pretty frightening for Mario to hear the brick hit the underside of his car after it sucked it up,” 2007 winner Franchitti, who starts Sunday’s race from third on the grid, said today.
“I believe that’s the first time that has ever happened but I know the guys will make sure the track is 100% safe for us to race on next weekend.”
While Dixon, last year’s Indy500 winner, topped the timesheets with a best lap of 40.3951secs, an average of 222.799mph, Franchitti had to content himself with sixth-fastest, 0.2936s and 1.607mph slower than his Kiwi team-mate.
JM