Schmidt Peterson Motorsports on Tuesday afternoon announced that it will not field the No. 6 Lucas Oil Honda in this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway Motorsports Park outside St. Louis.
The No. 6, of course, is the Indy car driven by Robert Wickens, who suffered serious injuries in a crash this past Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
Wickens underwent surgery Monday night for what an IndyCar statement called “to stabilize a thoracic spinal fracture of the spinal column fracture associated with a spinal cold injury.”
Wickens is facing additional surgeries to repair other injuries incurred in the violent crash, including fractures in his lower extremities and right forearm. He remains in stable condition in Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
A statement on the 2018 #Bommarito500: pic.twitter.com/XjlrX8zRKt
— Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team (@ArrowMcLaren) August 21, 2018
Also on Tuesday, SPM announced that the No. 5 Arrow Electronics Honda will compete in this weekend’s race and will be piloted by regular driver James Hinchcliffe.
Hinchcliffe was collected in Sunday’s crash that involved his teammate Wickens, as well as Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and rookie Pietro Fittipaldi.
Hinchcliffe reportedly suffered cuts on both hands apparently from debris resulting from the crash, but he was medically cleared to race again on Tuesday.