Accident sends Indy Car driver Robert Wickens to hospital and has ABC Supply 500 under red flag

LONG POND, Pa. – The omens were not good.

On Saturday, the second practice session for the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway was cancelled because of rain.

This was after the drivers on the Verizon Indycar Series were coming off of a three-week hiatus

Then on Sunday, moments after the green flag started the 500-mile race, Graham Rahal misread the acceleration of cars in front of him and hit Spencer Pigot.

Rahal got a penalty for avoidable contact and the first six laps were run under caution.

Then just after the race went green again, Robert Wickens took an aggressive move and clipped the back of the car Ryan Hunter-Reay, sending him into a spin.

Wickens' car drove over Hunter-Reay and went air born just as cars were reaching top speed.

Wickens flew into the safety catch fence coming out of Turn Two at "The Tricky Triangle." His car did several 360-degree turns in the air and disintegrated sending debrief all over the track.

The safety cell, with Wickens in it, stayed intact as it smashed to the track. About 45 minutes after the accident, Indycar officials said that Wickens was awake and alert but was flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Cedarcrest Hospital in Allentown.

Takuma Sato, Pietro Fittipaldi and James Hinchcliffe became collateral-damage drivers and the race was red flagged just seven laps in with none completed at full speed.

The race is in a delay while the catch fence is repaired.