Jack Hawksworth’s first season in the Verizon IndyCar Series has been off to a decent start, but unfortunately for the English rookie, he became the first driver to contact the wall at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval this month.
Hawksworth lost the rear through Turn 3 and hit the outside retaining wall. He emerged unscathed, and was checked, released and cleared to drive. But the No. 98 BHA/BBM with Curb-Agajanian Honda, now adorned in a new livery with new primary sponsor Integrity Energee Drink, was badly damaged.
That put the shortened two-hour practice under yellow. Simon Pagenaud led with the month’s first 226-plus mph lap, a 226.122 in the No. 77 Lucas Oil Honda for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports.
Once the track goes back to green – repairs needed to be made to the SAFER Barrier – look for KV Racing Technology’s fourth car, the No. 33 Always Evolving Racing Chevrolet, to make its first laps. Sebastien Bourdais will shake James Davison’s car down, per a KVRT team PR rep.
Teal @kvracing @aeperformance car preps for 1st #Indy500 laps; @BourdaisOnTrack shaking down as @JDDavison007 watches pic.twitter.com/zDe9XectgF
— Mark Robinson (@TireMark) May 14, 2014
Update: We now have video.