IndyCar driver Devlin DeFrancesco walks away from scary crash

Devlin DeFrancesco flies through the air after a heavy impact in the IndyCar season opener. Photo / Sky Sport

Devlin DeFrancesco walked away without a scratch following an airborne crash triggered by Kiwi Scott Dixon in the opening lap of the first race of the IndyCar season in St Petersburg, Florida.

Dixon set the chain of events up when fighting for position with Felix Rosenqvist, hitting his tire which slowed Rosenqvist down and into the barrier causing traffic behind to collide.

After failing to avoid a crash ahead, DeFrancesco’s car was left exposed in the middle of the track. Rookie driver Benjamin Pedersen then crashed straight into DeFrancesco’s Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport car, sending it twisting airborne.

DeFrancesco was interviewed shortly after the incident calling it a ‘wild ride’.

“I’m fine. A knock. Not the way we wanted to start the season. I saw the 55 coming and thought, yep, this is going to be a big one. So just braced up and got ready for it. It was a wild ride,” he said.

Seven cars were involved in the crash with Jack Harvey taken to a hospital for observation and Helio Castroneves needed an ice pack and X-rays following the crash. Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, limped away from the accident while his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Simon Pagenaud clutched his hand.

Castroneves left IndyCar’s new mobile medical care center with an ice pack on his right hand, and a clean X-ray taken on his right knee. Pagenaud said his finger was bruised, but he was fine.

Harvey wasn’t so lucky and was transported to a hospital — IndyCar said it was for an evaluation out of “an abundance of caution” — after Kyle Kirkwood became the second Andretti driver to go airborne and sailed directly over Harvey’s head. Rinus VeeKay had slid into a tire barrier, Harvey ran into the back of VeeKay and Kirkwood launched over both cars.

After the wild start Marcus Ericsson won the race, his first victory since taking out last year’s Indy500.

Dixon finished third while compatriots Marcus Armstrong (11th) and Scott McLaughlin (13th) were outside the top 10.

Ericsson outlasted the carnage on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg for a surprise victory for Chip Ganassi Racing on a swampy day in Florida. It was the fourth career IndyCar victory for the Swedish former Formula One driver.

But it was supposed to be an Andretti car in victory lane, at least based on the speed the team showed all weekend. Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta started on the front row, but things began to unravel right at the start.

Herta was sent into a tire barrier by contact from reigning IndyCar champion Will Power, who received an avoidable contact penalty, to leave Grosjean as the last remaining chance for Andretti.

But as Grosjean and defending race winner Scott McLaughlin raced side by side for position, the two cars touched in what appeared to be a game of chicken headed into a corner. Neither driver lifted and both cars slammed into a tire barrier.

Grosjean was furious, first throwing his arms up in disgust, and then pounding his first on the stack of tires as he screamed. McLaughlin received an avoidable contact penalty. Andretti muttered an expletive and buried his head in his hands.

Ericsson, meanwhile, passed Pato O’Ward for the win with three laps remaining when O’Ward suffered a brief loss of power. O’Ward pounded his fist in disgust as Ericsson sailed past for the win for Honda.

O’Ward was second in a Chevrolet for McLaren and followed by six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon of Ganassi and Alexander Rossi in his debut race with new team McLaren.

Callum Ilott finished a career-best fifth for Juncos Hollinger Racing and was followed by Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and then Power of Team Penske. Alex Palou of Ganassi was eighth while RLL driver Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas rounded out the top 10.

Armstrong, a rookie who moved from F2 in Europe to race for Ganassi in IndyCar this season, finished 11th in his series debut to make Chip Ganassi, and not Andretti, the team of the day.