The Detroit Grand Prix’s new downtown layout has proven to be a struggle for IndyCar drivers, but the crashes in the tight confines of turns 6 and 7 during today’s IndyCar sessions paled in comparison to the strange crash that occurred during an IMSA Pilot Challenge support race featuring GT4- spec cars that ran this afternoon.
This content is imported from twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED!?Up and over another race car! 😳
📺 : @peacock pic.twitter.com/Jm8samn76V— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) June 3, 2023
The wreck started when the pole-sitting Turner BMW M4 came too hot into the track’s lone hairpin, clipping the driver’s side corner of an Aston Martin Vantage racer run by Van Der Steur Racing. Normally, this would just send both cars spinning into the barrier. Instead, in a pure chance moment of geometry gone wrong, the M4 flies into the air and lands on top of the spinning Aston Martin. They slide together for a moment, before the Aston Martin stops completely and the remaining momentum flings the BMW into a tire barrier. Then, incredibly, the BMW simply drives off the tires and continues along the road.
Both cars would retire after sustaining damage, but, given the details of the wreck, the amazing thing is how minor that damage actually seems to be. Sure, the M4’s entire splitter was separated from the car immediately, but the BMW is still able to physically drive away from the scene of the crash and return to the pit lane. The Aston Martin even retains the original shape of its roofline, despite having another race car on top of the cabin for a surprisingly long amount of time. Winward Racing’s Mercedes AMG GT4 went on to win the race, perhaps in no small part because it was neither on top of nor beneath a competing car at any point in the event.
Keyword: BMW M4 Racer Vaults Aston Martin, Somehow Drives Away