Will Power won race two of IndyCar’s Houston double-header although the finish was marred by a massive last-lap accident involving Dario Franchitti.
The Scot was running behind Takuma Sato when the Japanese driver got out of shape.
Franchitti hit the back of Sato’s Foyt car and was launched into the air and along the fence, causing tremendous damage to the Ganassi car and sending several large pieces of debris in the direction of a nearby grandstand.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that several fans were checked by medical personnel, but there has been no indication of any serious injuries.
Franchitti remained in the wreckage until the medical team could extract him, however IndyCar has confirmed that he is conscious and alert. He was taken directly to a nearby hospital for further evaluation.
Penske driver Power moved into the lead by jumping Franchitti’s team-mate Scott Dixon on a restart early in the race, and despite Dixon’s best efforts, Power retained his advantage right to the end.
Dixon’s second place was still a significant result in the context of the championship, not least because pre-race leader Helio Castroneves again had a disastrous afternoon.
The Brazilian was handed pole position after qualifying was washed out, meaning that the grid was determined by the entrant points prior to the weekend. But in the opening laps, he caught too much of one of the bumps and damaged his gearbox.
Dixon, running behind him, spent several laps being covered in oil before the Penske car finally lost power and came to a stop with a broken gearbox casing.
The team dragged Castroneves’ car back to the pits and managed to get it fixed and sent him back out, 28 laps down, in the hope of salvaging a few points.
James Hinchcliffe bounced back from a disappointing Saturday race to finish third, the Canadian posting similar times to the leaders in the final stint, with Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais rounding out the top five.
The race was interrupted eight times by caution periods, most coming from spins or single-car accidents.
The most notable exception occurred when Simona de Silesvtro, who finished second on Saturday, overestimated her chances of successfully overtaking Graham Rahal and Tristan Vautier in one move, and ended up putting both into the wall.
The KV driver was issued a drive-through for causing the accident, and Josef Newgarden attracted a similar penalty later for turning Marco Andretti around.
