A Corvette pace car driven by a General Motors executive crashed at the Detroit Grand Prix Sunday, delaying the race, the Detroit News reported.
Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development, was behind the wheel of the Corvette ZR1 when it spun in the first lap on the raceway on Belle Isle, striking a portion of the wall and leaving debris, the newspaper said.
Twelve rows of IndyCar series race vehicles were brought to a halt and eventually returned to their pit areas while the debris was cleaned up, the News wrote. Reuss was in the car with IndyCar official Mark Sandy at the time of the accident.
"I saw him (Reuss) after and talked to him and he's fine," Detroit Grand Prix chairman Bud Denker told the News. "He told me he was totally OK and just disappointed in what happened."
Chevrolet, released a statement on Twitter saying that there were no serious injuries in the accident and blaming the weather and track conditions.
"Both the pace car driver and the series official were taken to the infield care center, where they were checked, cleared and released," Chevrolet, which is owned by General Motors, said in the statement. "It is unfortunate that this incident happened. Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions. The car's safety systems performed as expected."
The winner of the May's Indianapolis 500 Will Power said that he "felt really bad" for those in the pace car, the website Autoblog wrote.
"It's very easy to do, and the traction control must have been turned off," Power said, per the website. "Wasn't really his fault."
The winner of the delayed Detroit Grand Prix, Ryan Hunter-Reay, also sympathized with Reuss, Autoblog noted.
"That's a testament to the Corvette and 750 horsepower," Hunter-Reay said. "I've driven one before and you don't want to jump on the gas. That's a fast car. It's something that can happen and the race hadn't started, so no big deal."
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