As the Detroit Grand Prix weekend continued with Saturday morning practice from the Raceway at Belle Isle Park, there was a wreck in the opening minutes of the session.
Rookies Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas were travelling down the front stretch side-by-side. With the right hander of Turn 7 ahead, Kirkwood held the inside line and could not stop from running into the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda.
Here is video of the collision:
After finishing P1 in yesterday's practice, @KKirkwoodRacing brought out the red flag at the beginning of practice 2.
On the radio, he described the brakes as "squishy".
WATCH LIVE on @PeacockTV: https://t.co/eI23rgv5zD#INDYCAR // #DetroitGP pic.twitter.com/7Fbh6dnsBx
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 4, 2022
Following the incident, Kirkwood explained his car had suffered a mechanical issue in the session, which led to the crash.
“We had a mechanical (issue) from the start of the session,” Kirkwood said, via Peacock. “That’s kind of why I put us in the wall. Unfortunately, it’s not something I can fix here on pit-lane, I was ready to go back out. It wasn’t Malukas’ fault at all, I was actually trying to let him by and unfortunately I drove into him.
“So that’s on us, for sure. Wanted to get back out, was getting ready to get back into the car and we found something so we’re going to have to go behind the wall, figure it out. But we’ll be back out for qualifying.”
Malukas, 20, was able to continue in the session driving off into backroads of the circuit as Kirkwood needed the car to be brought back to pit area.
The No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet topped the first session on Friday as the 23-year-old Florida native stunned the field and led his first career IndyCar practice, Malukas was 16th quickest.
