Alexander Rossi’s hopes of securing a solid top ten finish at IndyCar’s latest race at Long Beach were dashed by a late suspension failure.
The incident came on the penultimate lap and ruined what was supposed to be a strong result for the California native.
Television cameras didn’t catch the moment the Arrow McLaren driver left the track, but shook his head in disbelief while his car got stuck in a tire near turn nine. I could see how they were.
According to official track timing, Rossi was slower than usual after crossing the finish line with two laps to go, completing the first eight turns of the track more than two seconds slower than the previous lap.
The consistently slow pace suggests that the failure occurred almost a lap before he retired, developing into a bigger problem as he continued on the track.
During a hard braking event at Turn 9, Rossi’s car developed an issue that apparently saw him completely overshoot the corner and end the day abruptly in a tire barrier.
Rossi commented after the race that it was not a driver error, but a suspension failure, and was disappointed that he could not complete the final few laps.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Rossi. “The car has been great going into the race. I think we have finally found what we have been missing so far this year in terms of warm-up performance.
“It was a good race and what happened with two laps to go is disappointing. I have no choice but to move to
Before his injury, Rossi was running in sixth place, but was aiming for his second top ten finish of the year. However, he had to settle for the 22nd finishing position.
It was the second race in a row that they had problems in the races where they were able to leave good results.
At Texas Motor Speedway, a crash in the pit lane damaged one of the steering components. The resulting repairs dropped him from fifth all the way to the back of the field, dropping many laps.
The latest incident in Long Beach was not immediately understood and Arrow McLaren Racing Director Gavin Ward vowed the team would investigate.
“Alexander [Rossi] I was aiming for a great finish right up until the last lap problem,” Ward said. “The team needs to look into it. We still don’t fully understand what was going on, but he had a pretty strong race pace and was able to maximize what he had. It’s a shame because I used it.”
The team has had a lot of bad luck among all drivers this season, with Pato O’Ward suffering a brief plenum fire in St. I crashed out of the race in Texas after taking pole.
