Rossi breaks thumb in IndyCar crash in Toronto, ruled out of weekend

Rossi will be out of action for the rest of the weekend after suffering an injury during the first practice session on the streets of Toronto.

Rossi was running in the second group in the final stages of opening practice on Friday and was tearing around the 11-turn, 2.875-kilometre temporary street circuit at Exhibition Place when the left front of his car hit the tyre wall at Turn 8 and went into the wall on the exit of the corner.

The incident led to the first of two red flags in the session, with Rossi removing his right glove and grabbing his hand and wrist as he got out of his car.

Arrow McLaren confirmed in a statement that although he was seen by the IndyCar medical team and released, he suffered a broken right thumb and was withdrawn. He was fifth-fastest in the session.

A statement from the team said: “Following an incident in which he contacted the Turn 8 wall during the first practice session of the Ontario Honda Dealers Grand Prix, Alexander Rossi was seen and released by the IndyCar medical. The incident resulted in a broken right thumb. Alexander will not be able to compete this weekend.”

Arrow McLaren will soon announce the driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet for the remainder of the weekend.

Graham Rahal, who finished 14th in the session in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, said in a post-practice statement to the media that the specific section of the track that Rossi was struggling on is more difficult now that it has been repaved.

“So, they have new asphalt, which is still bumpy,” Rahal said of Turn 8. “It allows you to brake a lot deeper, I think, or be a lot more confident.

“That just means that if you miss it, the window is much smaller. When you go into the corner, you’re coming off the new asphalt. It’s a bit like Iowa.

“Iowa, it’s great that they’ve repaved the corners, but I wish they had just done the whole thing or at least a lot further down the straight so that the first phase of the corner wasn’t on a transitional phase like it was, which caught (Marcus) Ericsson and a couple of the other guys off guard.

“It’s similar here. You come off the new surface onto the bumpy asphalt and concrete when you get to the top of eight. By the time you get there, you’re rolling at a lot of speed. It’s a corner that’s always done that.

“Even before that, we saw the most accidents in eight of all the corners. It’s just a challenge.”