Oliver Askew will return to the NTT IndyCar Series ride he lost after the 2020 season with Arrow McLaren SP, substituting Sunday for Felix Rosenqvist in Race 2 of the Chevrolet Grand Prix.
Rosenqvist was hospitalized at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital and held overnight for advanced imaging and evaluation by the trauma and neurological teams after a violent crash Saturday at the Belle Isle Raceway. The throttle apparently stuck on Rosenqvist’s No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet entering Turn 6.
Askew made 12 starts last season for Arrow McLaren SP as an IndyCar rookie, finishing a career-best third at Iowa Speedway. He missed two races because of concussion-like symptoms after an Aug. 23 crash at the Indy 500.
The team announced his departure last October before the season finale. “We believe that Oliver has a great deal of talent and potential for the future. He has had an incredibly difficult rookie year, with a lack of overall track time and recent medical issues,” Arrow McLaren SP co-owner Sam Schmidt said in a statement about Askew, who won the 2019 Indy Lights championship with seven victories and 15 podiums in 18 starts.
Looking forward to working with the @ArrowMcLarenSP team again tomorrow for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Wishing @FRosenqvist a full recovery. Ready to race and do my best for the team. pic.twitter.com/iAdyGqCRHA
— Oliver Askew (@Oliver_Askew) June 13, 2021
Qualifying for Race 2 of the Chevrolet Grand Prix will begin at 9 a.m. ET Sunday, and the green flag will be shortly after noon ET on NBC.
This will Askew’s first IndyCar start at Detroit, which was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Askew tweeted Saturday night that he would be borrowing a pair of Alex Palou’s shoes to race Sunday.
Thanks for the shoes @AlexPalou - just make sure you sign them for me tomorrow 🖊 pic.twitter.com/ewEhztnud4
— Oliver Askew (@Oliver_Askew) June 13, 2021
The team said in a statement that it would share updates when available on Rosenqvist’s recovery and his status for the next race at Road America on June 20.
Saturday’s race was stopped for more than an hour after 28 of 70 laps because of the violent crash in Turn 6. Safety workers needed about 10 minutes to extricate Rosenqvist after his car impacted the wall at full speed, scattering tires and knocking over concrete barriers while collapsing the front end.
In an update shortly after 10 p.m., Arrow McLaren SP said the No. 7 underwent a detailed examination that ruled out driver error, software problems or a stuck throttle for the crash.
The team blamed a “single, non-recurrent mechanical fault” for the wreck and said a remedy had been implemented for Sunday’s race.
After a "detailed examination," the @ArrowMcLarenSP team says the @FRosenqvist crash was because of a "single, non-recurrent mechanical fault" that was unrelated to driver error or issues involving Chevrolet systems/software or anything involving the throttle system of the No. 7. pic.twitter.com/E6AqwMZkaq
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) June 13, 2021