Former champion Paul Tracy will be out for at least a few months after sustaining a back injury in practice for the Long Beach Grand Prix.
Tracy: "This is obviously a very unfortunate situation; it's really a shame because it pretty much ruins the championship for us this year,'' Tracy said after returning to the track. "I'm very disappointed for the whole team because we had gotten off to a great start in Vegas (finishing second) and we were pretty strong here. We were building momentum and just hoping to be fast and consistent the whole year.
The Canadian driver said he had no indication of any trouble until the car snapped around when he got back on the throttle after driving through turn one. "I went head on into the wall and then the car jumped up in the air and then slammed back on the ground,'' he said. "I could tell something was wrong right away."
Tracy was replaced by Oriol Servia who finished an amazing second on Sunday.