Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has confirmed that Santino Ferrucci has been cleared by IndyCar to drive today after being evaluated by series medics this morning.
The 22-year-old suffered the biggest crash yet of this year’s Indy 500 proceedings, spinning in the middle of turn 2 and crashing into the SAFER barrier on Thursday afternoon.
As he was assisted from his car, Ferrucci was seen keeping weight off of his left leg and was later transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Found to have no major injuries, he was released later in the evening and then was cleared by the IndyCar medical staff the next morning. However, he was spotted wearing a light brace on his knee.
“We were just working on our race trim,” explained Ferrucci in the morning’s media session. “[We were] trying a couple different things, and it was just more my mistake.
“We have been on top of the board yesterday after the last two days trying to figure some stuff out, and I should have pitted a lap before because it made some moves, and normally around here it’s not a very good sign.
“I do like a loose race car, and I think yesterday was definitely over the razor thin edge of this place.
“I’m pretty confident I know what I did wrong, and I know how to fix it.
“Obviously getting back in the car today, we’re going to go out in race trim with all the downforce on the car and we’re going to go run around, and we’re just going to peel it back off again.
“By the end of the day, I have absolutely zero doubts that we’ll be back up at full speed with Graham [Rahal] and Takuma [Sato].
“I’m feeling good,” continued Ferrucci. “We went to Southern Methodist. I’m very happy the safety of the IndyCars. It’s come such a long way so fast.
“They just performed a CAT scan, make sure everything is good with my leg, and they cleared me to drive this morning. Be looking forward to getting back in the car.”
Ferrucci’s RLL team was able to work through the night to repair his car, and he will be able to take part in today’s Fast Friday running.
Today’s practice session is critical as the turbo boost levels will be raised to qualifying spec ahead of tomorrow’s knock-out session.
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