Justin Wilson walks on pit road during qualifying for Sunday's Pocono IndyCar 500 auto race, Saturday, in Long Pond, Pa. Wilson was injured during Sunday's race and air lifted to the hospital. — AP
LONG POND, United States — Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway Sunday, where a crash that sent English driver Justin Wilson to hospital with a head injury cast a pall over the proceedings. IndyCar officials said that Wilson, 37, had suffered a head injury and had been airlifted to hospital, where he was in a coma in critical condition hours after the race. The Andretti Autosport driver appeared to have been struck by a piece of debris from Sage Karam's car when it crashed in front of him during the final laps on the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway. Karam was leading when his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet spun on lap 179 of the 200 lap race. A piece of the car — possibly the nosecone — appeared to strike Wilson, whose car then swerved into a wall. His Andretti teammate Hunter-Reay won the race, which finished under a caution flag. Hunter-Reay passed series rookie Gabby Chaves with under six laps remaining, and the caution flag came out after Chaves' engine gave out with three laps to go. Josef Newgarden finished second, with IndyCar series points leader Juan Pablo Montoya third. Montoya will take a 34-point lead over Graham Rahal into the season finale at Sonoma Raceway next weekend — when double points will be on offer. New Zealand's Scott Dixon, who finished ninth, trails Montoya by 47 points. Australian Will Power, who finished fourth, is 61 points back. Montoya started the race with a nine-point lead over Rahal atop the standings. But Rahal's challenge ended with an incident the American blamed on Tristan Vautier, who came inside Rahal and made contact as Rahal was trying to overtake Justin Wilson on the inside. “(Vautier) said I turned into him,” said Rahal, who finished 20th. “There's not any space. We're already two-wide and he knows that. He sees that. But you know, he's not known as the sharpest tool around here.” The race produced a string of other wrecks, including one involving Charlie Kimball and Jack Hawksworth, and a crash for Sebastien Bourdais that doused the French driver's already dwindling series championship hopes. Wilson, a native of Sheffield, England, entered this season without a full-time ride. He latched on with Andretti and was in the sixth of seven scheduled races with the team. The deal was put together right before the season-opening race in March and initially started as just a two-race agreement at Indianapolis. Sponsorship was found for another five races as the season progressed, and Wilson finished a season-best second earlier this month at Mid-Ohio. Wilson's wife, Julia, was en route to Pennsylvania from their home in Colorado, while his younger brother, Stefan, also an IndyCar driver, was traveling from Indianapolis. — Agencies
