Rinus VeeKay's challenging season continued Saturday when he crashed early in Indianapolis 500 qualifying. The 23-year-old Dutch driver limped away after his No. 21 Chevrolet wiggled going through the third turn on the 2.
Rinus VeeKay of The Netherlands, drives into a turn during a practice session for the IndyCar Grand Prix auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Friday, May 10, 2024, in Indianapolis. INDIANAPOLIS — Rinus VeeKay’s already challenging season took another twist Saturday when a hard crash in Indianapolis 500 qualifying left him limping down the front straightaway, hopeful he could get back on the 2.5-mile oval before the first round of qualifying ends.
The 23-year-old Dutch driver traditionally has performed well on both the track’s historic Brickyard and the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. But VeeKay, who is in the final year of his contract with Ed Carpenter Racing, finished 26th in last weekend’s Indianapolis Grand Prix and now faces a long road back to making his fifth straight pole shootout as the team scrambles to repair his No. 21 Chevrolet.
“I had had a bit of understeer on the previous lap and made a little adjustment, somehow I had a huge moment really late. I don’t really understand how that happened,” he said, before climbing out of the car and limping toward track workers. “I feel terrible for the guys, they spend months — or a year or two — getting this car ready and now we’ve taken a huge step backward.
He has been one of the top qualifiers in each of his first four racers — starting fourth as a rookie in 2020, third in each of the next two years and second in 2023, when he finished 10th. VeeKay’s career-best 500 finish, eighth, came in 2021, the same year he won the Indianapolis Grand Prix.“I think we’ll be fine getting into the field,” he said. “We should have just been able to do it with one run and done, but it’s just a bummer. We shouldn’t have to go through this.
Rinus Veekay NC State Wire Indycar Ed Carpenter Sports Indianapolis
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