Grosjean angry after first lap crash in heats of IndyCar All-Star Race

THERMAL, Calif. (AP) – IndyCar Showdown Thermal $1 Million Challenge Sunday got off to a difficult start when Romain Grosjean crashed on the opening lap of the first heat race.

“I mean, who will pay for the damage? We come here with no points on the line and don’t do anything wrong and the car is completely shattered,” Grosjean fumed after walking from his crashed car back down pit road for the privateers. Were.

“This is not what I signed up for with IndyCar.”

The no-points All-Star Race is filling a hole in IndyCar’s early season schedule and actually only pays $500,000 because Thermal Club members shy away from attending events with matching buy-ins. Instead club members were randomly paired with teams for an embedded weekend experience with the IndyCar organization.

IndyCar’s first non-points race since 2008 has a unique format in which only 12 drivers will compete in the main event. The dozen All-Stars advance to the “A Main” by finishing in the top six of one of two heat races. Heat races last 10 laps or 20 minutes, whichever comes first.

But it went awry just minutes after the start of the first heat at the 17-turn, 3.067-mile raceway when Scott Dixon ran into the back of Grosjean, causing Grosjean to spin into Rinus Veeck, who spun Christian Lundgaard. Dixon was given an avoidable contact penalty due to Grosjean, who had moved from Formula 1 to IndyCar.

Grosjean is in his first season with Juncos Hollinger Racing – the third team in four years for Grosjean – and the smaller organization does not have the same operating budget as the top IndyCar teams. JHR got a boost, however, when Agustín Canapino advanced through the first heat in the payday race.

Felix Rosenqvist won the first heat from pole in the eight laps, which he was able to complete in the allotted time. Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, Lundgaard, Canappino and Colton Herta were also eliminated from the first heat.

IndyCar debutant Nolan Siegel, 19, missed the final transfer spot by finishing seventh in the heats. Also eliminated in the first heat were Dixon and Will Power, who had to go off the course to avoid a first lap crash.

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