Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson's preparation for this year's race at the famed speedway has been rocked by a hard collision in practice.
The Andretti Global driver, who won the 2022 crown jewel event with Chip Ganassi Racing, crashed at turn four before sliding down the front straight.
Ericsson hit the inside wall before slowly sliding into the attenuator, coming to a halt at pit entry. In all, Ericsson suffered three big impacts before climbing from the car.
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"Massive shunt for the No.28," said James Hinchcliffe in commentary.
"Just gets down onto that kerb. It just upset the car a tiny bit and by the time he caught it he was out in the grey. Nothing he could do. Hands off the wheel. Every one of those impacts just sucks.
"It's such a small thing. You're so focused on the car in front. You are trying to keep your car low to make sure you can get a little bit of clean air on the left side of your front wing, trying to get a little bit more front grip. If you get the tiniest bit too low, that can be the result."
Ericsson was cleared of any injuries after the crash and said it was ultimately his mistake and apologised to the team.
"I'm feeling okay. Obviously it was quite a decent hit," said the Swede.
"The safety in these cars is pretty impressive. I need to watch it back. Obviously, lost it in the middle (of the corner) there. I don't know if I brushed the kerb a little bit. Yeah, I think I brushed the kerb a little bit and that's probably enough to send it (into a spin).
"Then you're a passenger. Very disappointing. I'm very sorry to my team. They've done a very good job with and they have a lot of work ahead of them now, so that's probably the worst part of the whole thing."
https://twitter.com/Ericsson_Marcus/status/1791216977203102012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Ericsson wasn't the only driver to crash. Hours earlier, Indianapolis 500 rookie Linus Lundqvist suffered a "vicious" crash at turn two.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver lost control of his car after dipping his left wheels below the white line.
He hit the outside wall hard with his right rear wheel before veering wildly as he tried to control the car as it careened towards the inside wall.
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1791133334757609620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Lundqvist was also cleared of any injuries after visiting the medical centre.
McLaren driver Pato O'Ward topped Friday's practice session with a top speed of 228.861mph.
He led Team Penske's Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, who set 227.316mph and 226.915mph laps respectively.
https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1791233777848459529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Colton Herta (Andretti), Josef Newagrden (Penske), Linus Lunqvist (Ganassi), owner-driver Ed Carpenter, Will Power (Penske), and Scott Dixon (Ganassi) completed the top 10.
Practice will continue on Saturday (AEST) with 'Fast Friday' where cars will set their cars up ahead of qualifying on Sunday (AEST.
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