INDIANAPOLIS – Kyle Kaiser became the latest victim of the unforgiving Indianapolis Motor Speedway wall during Indianapolis 500 practice Friday afternoon.
Kaiser, driving the No. 32 for Juncos Racing, crashed late Friday morning on the fourth day of Indianapolis 500 practice. His car got loose and spun exiting turn three, impacting the outside wall and nearly flipping. His car lightly struck the inside wall at the entrance of turn four before coming to rest.
“I’m fine. I’m very fortunate that the technology and safety with IndyCar has gotten as good as it has today because that was definitely a big hit. I felt it,” said Kaiser, who was cleared to drive by medical officials following Friday’s crash. “Overall, the car just felt like I lost it right in the middle of the corner. There really wasn’t much you could do.
“Obviously this is not what you want to be doing on the day before qualifying. We’ll have to go back and kind of see what our options are, but obviously we’ll be doing everything we can to qualify for this race.
It’s just the latest blow for Kaiser and Juncos Racing team owner Ricardo Juncos, who announced earlier this week that two major sponsors had pulled funding from the team just prior to the beginning of Indianapolis 500 practice.
However, Juncos confirmed Friday afternoon that the team intends to get Kaiser’s No. 32 back on track for qualifying Saturday and Sunday.
“We are very grateful that our driver Kyle was not injured and safely walked away from the massive hit he experienced today at IMS,” said Juncos. “As everyone knows this has been a very intense month for our NTT IndyCar Series program. Despite off track set backs, that has not stopped this team from going out and performing during practice this week. We have been up to the top-five in no tow speeds and have consistently improved our times each day.
“Now we are faced with the challenge of getting our back-up car on track and set for qualifying tomorrow, but I am completely confident in this amazing group we have here at Juncos Racing to make it happen. This group will not stop working until we get our No. 32 back on track. We want to thank all of the teams who are willing to help out with parts, Chevrolet, and the fans who have stopped by to express their well wishes. We will be working hard all day and night.”
Friday’s session was the first day teams were able to utilize the extra boost that is given to the cars ahead of qualifying Saturday and Sunday.