Ryan Hunter-Reay and Townsend Bell’s hopes of winning the 100th Indianapolis 500 for Andretti Autosport were dashed after coming together in the pit lane when battling for the lead of the race.
Following a caution period called for crashes involving Mikhail Aleshin and Conor Daly, the majority of the field dived into the pits for the fifth round of pit stops.
Both Hunter-Reay and Bell had been running inside the top three before the caution, battling with Tony Kanaan, James Hinchcliffe and Helio Castroneves for the lead of the race.
On the race off pit road, Bell’s car was released into the path of the oncoming Castroneves, resulting in contact.
Bell’s car was sent into Hunter-Reay just as he was released, leaving both pointing the pit wall nose-first.
Only one crew member was in the line of fire, but he managed to jump out of the way quickly. A tire was also hit, but did not come off the ground, meaning no-one in the area was hurt.
Bell was assessed a penalty for the incident, unsafe release:
Stop and Go Penalty, Car 29 - Unsafe Release from Pit Box (7.10.1.10). #Indy500 #INDYCAR https://t.co/1I2Xejdij6
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 29, 2016
Andretti was forced to wheel both of its cars back to their pit boxes, costing both drivers time before they were sent back out again. At the time of writing, Hunter-Reay and Bell now run P25 and P26 respectively and are battling to remain on the lead lap.