The last time an IndyCar race was fully contested in the rain was in 2015, in New Orleans. Much has rained (never better said) since then and today in Alabama a change in the start time of the race was trying to prevent a heavy rain conditions.
The visibility was practically zero, reason why all the drivers were quite conservative to avoid incidents. The lead positions did not change during the first laps.
On lap 11, Charlie Kimball went out and hit the wall slightly. The Carlin driver tried to continue, but had the front wing damaged and ended up standing on track, so the first yellow flag waved. Several drivers stopped during the neutralization.
At the time of the re-start, Will Power, who was second, lost the control of his car on the straight and hit the wall. Fortunately, no driver hit him, but the green flag lasted seconds and the Australian’s race was over. On lap 19, the red flag was waved, the conditions were too complicated and even dangerous.
The engines roared again after 35 minutes, Zach Claman DeMelo was penalized with the loss of 2 laps for making modifications not allowed during the red flag. After the red flag, Tony Kanaan’s from A.J. Foyt team stopped his car, but he was able to resume the race again.
They got back on track with a yellow flag, but it was still so dangeros and only four laps were given before the race stopped again.
After a two-hour stoppage, race control finally decided to move the race for the following, April 23 at 12:00 PM local time (6:00 PM Spanish time peninsular). The race will resume on lap 23 with the race order on that lap. Josef Newgarden will be the first, followed by Sébastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay.
