From indycar.com
Both Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves were uninjured but rattled this morning after a warm-up incident on the Pratt Street frontstretch of the 2.04-mile, 12-turn Baltimore Grand Prix street circuit.
Kanaan, driving the No. 82 GEICO KV Racing Technology-Lotus car, had rounded Turn 12 and was quickly approaching the start/finish line. Castroneves, in the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske car, was about 100 feet ahead and locked the brakes heading into the hard right-hand Turn 1 when Kanaan's car make contact with Castroneves' right-rear tire and flew over the sidepod.
It actually was a conscious decision by the 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion to use the car as a buffer.
"I was actually lucky that Helio was there; he saved my life," Kanaan said of his longtime friend and compatriot. "I lost my brakes, and I was heading straight to the wall. I'm glad that both of us are OK. The car is being fixed, and that's exactly what we're going to do right now ... try to get it done."
Castroneves leaped from the cockpit and ran to Kanaan's car, which was deep into the runoff.
"Fortunately, I'm OK and Tony is OK," Castroneves said. "He hit me from the back and was flying over me, which was really concerning because I saw him going over me and hit the wall in a very awkward position, so I was really concerned. But when I saw him get out of the car and he was very alert, I was glad he was OK.
"Absolutely everything will be fine for the race. We're going to go with the spare car because we don't have time to fix the primary car, but the spare car is going to be the same and we're going to go for it."
Both Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves were uninjured but rattled this morning after a warm-up incident on the Pratt Street frontstretch of the 2.04-mile, 12-turn Baltimore Grand Prix street circuit.
Kanaan, driving the No. 82 GEICO KV Racing Technology-Lotus car, had rounded Turn 12 and was quickly approaching the start/finish line. Castroneves, in the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske car, was about 100 feet ahead and locked the brakes heading into the hard right-hand Turn 1 when Kanaan's car make contact with Castroneves' right-rear tire and flew over the sidepod.
It actually was a conscious decision by the 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion to use the car as a buffer.
"I was actually lucky that Helio was there; he saved my life," Kanaan said of his longtime friend and compatriot. "I lost my brakes, and I was heading straight to the wall. I'm glad that both of us are OK. The car is being fixed, and that's exactly what we're going to do right now ... try to get it done."
Castroneves leaped from the cockpit and ran to Kanaan's car, which was deep into the runoff.
"Fortunately, I'm OK and Tony is OK," Castroneves said. "He hit me from the back and was flying over me, which was really concerning because I saw him going over me and hit the wall in a very awkward position, so I was really concerned. But when I saw him get out of the car and he was very alert, I was glad he was OK.
"Absolutely everything will be fine for the race. We're going to go with the spare car because we don't have time to fix the primary car, but the spare car is going to be the same and we're going to go for it."