SPECTACULAR CRASH ENDS CUNNINGHAM'S IPS RUN AT CHICAGO
A spectacular crash ended New Zealand racing driver Wade Cunningham's run back up to the front of the field at the final round of the 2007 Indy Pro Series (IPS) in the United States this morning.
Cunningham, 23, had just worked his way back up to third place in the 67 lap/160 km Chicagoland 100 race after an earlier incident when he was driven into the wall on the back straight by Travis Gregg.
The resulting accident saw Cunningham's Team AFS Racing car flip then slide down the track upside down before finally grinding to a halt.
Despite the spectacular nature of the high-speed crash - Cunningham estimates he was tavelling at over 250 km/h when Gregg moved over on him - the young New Zealand driver was uninjured, and was even able to extricate himself from the car while it was still upside down before the track safety crew arrived.
'The only thing that went through my mind,' he said afterwards,'was fire. When the car is upside down like that and when you are still travelling along at speed you can smell the fuel and everything burning around you. Otherwise, no, it wasn't particularly scary or anything, all I saw was ground, sky, the wall, then I was upside down and sliding down the track until we stopped.'
It was a unfortunate end to what up until that point had been one of Cunningham's strongest races this season, the former World Karting Champion and 2005 IPS champion joining 2007 title winner Alex Lloyd on the front row of the grid after qualifying second quickest on Saturday, then leading six of the 67 laps of the race early on.
The first inkling that his day was not going to going to plan, however, came on the 16th lap when Chris Festa tried to follow Alex Lloyd past Cunningham as the pair (Cunningham and Lloyd) battled for the lead.
Festa spun at high speed and ended up in the wall and Cunningham was forced to pit for a new nose cone for his car after he grazed Festa's car as it spun in front of his own.
Despite that he was able to work his way back up through the field from 16th place to third, and was jostling for position with Gregg and eventual winner Logan Gomez when the race-ending incident happened.
Gomez and Sam Schmidt Racing team Alex Lloyd went on to finish one-two in the race with Robbie Pecorari third and Bobby Wilson fourth.
Fortunately, Cunningham's dnf did not affect the final series points standings, with Lloyd finishing the year with 652 points, Japanese driver Hideki Mutoh safe in second with 481 and Cunningham third with 423.
With the IPS over for another year Cunningham will remain in the United States to try and secure a drive in the Indycar series next year.
