Dale Coyne Racing driver Sebastien Bourdais has suffered multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip after his Indianapolis 500 qualifying crash.
The French driver was mid-way through his qualifying run during Saturday’s session when a small slide caused him to crash into the barrier at Turn 2.
His car flipped upside down briefly before coming to rest the right way up, with the qualifying session being red flagged.
An initial IndyCar statement said he was “awake and alert” and “did not lose consciousness” in the crash, before releasing a further update overnight.
It read:
“Verizon IndyCar Series driver Sebastien Bourdais was diagnosed with multiple fractures to his pelvis and a fracture to his right hip following an incident today while attempting to qualify for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
“According to INDYCAR Medical Director Dr. Geoffrey Billows, Bourdais will undergo surgery on his pelvis this evening at IU Health Methodist Hospital. Bourdais was on the third lap of his qualification run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when his Dale Coyne Racing No. 18 GEICO Honda made hard contact with the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier.”
A statement from team owner Dale Coyne added: “Sebastien is in good hands here at IU Methodist Hospital with the staff and now we just wait for him to recover.”