Heavy impact brings an early end for both Andretti Cape cars at Mid-Ohio
The Andretti Cape INDY NXT returned to action this week, making a traditional stop at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course during Independence Day weekend. The 2.258-mile circuit is another classic natural terrain road course that is high on nearly every driver’s enjoyment list.
Sebastian Murray and Ricardo Escotto were both in the second group for Saturday’s qualifying session, and they set laps fast enough to qualify 12th and 16th respectively. Murray started Sunday’s race one place higher in 11th on account of a two-place penalty for Jack William Miller.
When the green flag flew from the alternate starter’s stand, both drivers rushed down into Turn 4 and fought hard for their positions. Murray was squeezed in the middle of a three-wide scrap, forcing him to back out in order to keep from taking damage. That placed the 18-year-old in 13th after the first corner, with Escotto jumping forward a couple positions and ending up directly behind his team-mate.
The two drivers battled side by side through Turn 7 before Murray reclaimed the position just as the tighter set of corners on the back side of the course arrived.
On the fourth lap, Murray attempted a move on Bryce Aron through The Keyhole turn. He placed his Dream Racing Dubai entry a little too far up on the curbing, which cost him time on the long straight and allowed Escotto to approach alongside his team-mate for a second time.
Unfortunately, the two touched wheels while coming through the Turn 3 bend, which sent both drivers spinning into the wall at high speed. Murray dramatically tumbled end over end before coming to rest on the track, while Escotto slid through the grass with all corners of his Frank’s Red Hot entry ripped apart.
Both drivers were thankfully able to climb from their cars under their own power, and were released from the medical center following an assessment. Officially, Murray was credited with an 18th place result while Escotto earned a 19th place finish.
Both cars were heavily damaged in the incident, and had to be carried back to the paddock via tow truck during the resulting red flag. The Andretti Cape crew will more thoroughly examine the damage back at the shop in Brownsburg, Indiana, and work hard to get both cars ready to go for a race at Iowa Speedway next weekend.
The Capes
Yes it is very unfortunate the accident took place between team mates, both drivers share in the responsibility for what happened.
The main focus right now is making sure we can compete in Iowa with such a short turn around.
Seb Murray
It’s super unfortunate. I’m not really sure what happened. We’ll have to have a look at the video when we get back. I’m just glad everyone is okay. Massive thank you to the safety team. They have done a great job and were on the scene very quickly. Thanks to them for sure.
Apologies to the team as well. It was a good weekend up to that point and we were hoping to make our way up. We’ll move forward and hopefully we can perform better in Iowa next week.
Ricardo Escotto
Thank God we’re both okay. That was a very scary one. Thanks to the AMR safety team for their attention. I’m alright, just a bit frustrated at the incident.
It was a very unfortunate incident, especially having my team-mate beside me. Our racing has very close margins, and sometimes it comes to this. Hoping for a quick recovery in Iowa.