This situation is a pretty big face palm, and keeps getting worse the more you learn about it. Over the weekend, a new Corvette ZR1 Pace Car crashed into the wall at Sunday’s IndyCar race in Detroit. This wreck delayed the race by a half hours, and it might be one of the first documented ZR1 crashes out in the wild, albeit not on a public road. What makes it worse is who was behind the wheel, which was General Motors executive Mark Reuss, and his passenger was Mark Sandy, an IndyCar official.
No one was seriously injured during the accident, although they were taken to a nearby to the infield care center to get checked out, so that’s good news. The $120,000 American supercar took a hard swerve to the left and hit the way while GM’s executive vice president for Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain manned the wheel. This happened during lap two of the parade lap at the Raceway on Belle Isle.
Chevrolet issued a statement about the wreck that there were many factors that contributed to the accident and cited weather and track conditions as reasons the car crashed. They did note that the car’s safety systems performed up to par, the silver lining, or perhaps a deflection from the embarrassing accident.
Will Power, the winner of last week’s Indy 500 and second place winner at the Sunday event noted the that the corner where the crash happened was a particularly spot to wreck at. A replacement car showed up with Oriol Servia behind the wheel this time, who is a part-time IndyCar driver and frequent pace car driver.
#IndyCar #DetroitGP pic.twitter.com/4Pbm4N85tt
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 3, 2018
Considering the car was being manned by someone at GM who is clearly familiar with the 2019 Corvette ZR1, it makes it a little worse, but it happens. We wouldn’t exactly say that this was any kind of testament to the car’s capabilities, especially considering the work it’s already put in beating track records around the world.
Elizabeth is a hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
