Team Penske driver Will Power shoved Scott Dixon in an altercation after the pair crashed in second practice at Road America.
Chip Ganassi racer Dixon had just spun at Canada Corner, and came back on to the track before letting Romain Grosjean through.
The six-time champion then moved to the left, not seeing Power approaching just behind. He speared into Power’s right side and both cars came to a halt in the grass.
Another angle from the practice 2 incident that turned up the heat.#INDYCAR // #SonsioGP pic.twitter.com/RORooNv0tF
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 17, 2023
Power then proceeded to shove Dixon after the incident, clearly irate at what had happened, while Dixon appeared to be trying to apologise.
“We were on really old tyres, 20-lap old tyres, just trying to get some balance checks, spun,” Dixon told NBC TV. “I’m just watching the replay now, I saw Grosjean in my mirror after I kind of recovered and I didn’t even know Power was there.
“Really sorry for him and his team. A mistake on my behalf, really sorry, frustrated for wrecking our car and his car as well.”
Things are a bit spicy this morning.#INDYCAR // #SonsioGP pic.twitter.com/JkdIGIhJqT
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 17, 2023
Asked about Power being upset and what he said, Dixon replied: “We ended up getting in the medical car together, he was fine after that.
“Everybody gets pretty fired up and especially with how tight things are at the moment, it is what it is, but I feel bad for the situation.”
Power was also interviewed after the incident and didn’t mention the shove, but did appear thoroughly dejected after losing his primary car for the weekend.
“Scott moved abruptly and I was coming, It was a very unfortunate incident, there was just nothing I could really do there, I didn’t expect him to move.”
.@12WillPower and @scottdixon9 have been seen and released following this incident in practice 2.#INDYCAR // #SonsioGP pic.twitter.com/43FSpGd6Yk
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 17, 2023
He continued, sighing audibly: “Such a pity, felt like we had a pretty good car. We’ll rebuild it and see what happens.”
Asked what he said to Dixon in the medical car after, Power replied: “I just said, didn’t expect such an abrupt move. Not a good situation. But these things happen.”
Road America has produced plenty of drama already this weekend as the track record is under threat following resurfacing work completed before this year’s event.
Practice 1 on Friday went without serious incident, but runaway championship leader Alex Palou crashed early in second practice on Saturday morning in an incident at Turn 14 after he had just set the fastest time, admitting to IndyCar’s radio channel that he had tried too hard in finding the limit at that corner.
Judging by the cosmetic damage Palou should comfortably make it out for qualifying unless a serious issue is found.
Trouble for the points leader. @AlexPalou has been seen and released after this incident in practice 2.
📺: @peacock | #SonsioGP pic.twitter.com/zjreGQgv3a
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 17, 2023
Another of Ganassi’s cars, driven by Marcus Ericsson, spun immediately after the session got going following the Dixon/Power incident.
There was also a spin for Andretti’s Colton Herta, who stalled his car, a Canada Corner off for Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci, and Meyer Shank’s Simon Pagenaud ending up in the gravel – for a total of five red-flag periods.
Last year’s polesitter Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren topped the session, setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far with a 1m40.911s.
His FP1-topping time had already been quicker than the fastest-ever race lap at the track – set by Alex Zanardi in 1998 – but Datio Franchitti’s pole record of 1m39.988s from 2000 still stands for now.
