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Alexander Rossi has surgery on broken thumb, says 'typing with my left hand is hard'

UPDATE, JULY 22: The IndyCar Series reported Monday that Alexander Rossi had surgery on his broken thumb. "Yesterday morning's surgery on my thumb was successful," Rossi said in a statement. "I am so thankful to everyone at IndyCar medical and IU Methodist for the quick timeline. Feeling good and will share more news when able. Also, typing with my left hand is hard."

Alexander Rossi will miss the remainder of the IndyCar's race weekend on the streets of Toronto with a broken right thumb after a practice crash during Friday afternoon's session.

In the incident, Rossi was entering the 90-degree right-hand turn of Turn 8 and didn't manage to get his No. 7 Chevy turned enough to avoid hitting the tire barrier on the outside (left side) of corner exit and clipped it with his left-front tire. At the time of impact, in-car camera shows Rossi's hands turned a full 180 degrees, with his right hand underneath his left and using that right thumb to fully extend the wheel. While fully committed to getting his car to turn and make the corner, Rossi didn't get his hands away from the steering wheel in time before it snapped after the contact, clipping his right thumb and causing the fracture.

Despite a resurgent 2024 IndyCar campaign, Alexander Rossi will move on from Arrow McLaren, his home of two years, at the end of the 2024 season.
Despite a resurgent 2024 IndyCar campaign, Alexander Rossi will move on from Arrow McLaren, his home of two years, at the end of the 2024 season.

On the positive side, following this weekend's race, IndyCar has the next three weekends off after Sunday's race as exclusive media partner NBC jumps head-first into Summer Olympics coverage. IndyCar's next race comes Aug. 17 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

"First of all, I'm very thankful for all the men and women on the IndyCar medical team and for all the great work they do," Rossi said in a statement provided by the team. "It's unfortunate because the injury occurred when I almost made it around the corner, and I didn't want to give up on it, so I didn't quite get my hands off the wheel in time.

"However, everyone seems optimistic about the kind of injury it is. We're going to take the next steps here and get ready for Gateway.”

The team didn't offer an immediate plan for a replacement driver at the time of publication, but those on site noted on social media ex-Arrow McLaren driver Oliver Askew was seen entering the team's transporters in the wake of the incident.

"We are just gutted for Alex and the entire No. 7 crew," team principal Gavin Ward said in a statement. "We'll do everything we can to support him, and that is really what matters today. We had an issue on Pato's car that was related to the hybrid coolant pump. We don't know the exact details yet, but we're looking into it.

"We will focus on getting the most that we can out of the weekend. We continue to race for Bob, and we will do what we do and carry on."

The day before the race weekend began, O'Ward's spotter of two years, Bob Jeffrey, passed away after a battle with cancer.

'Forever our eye in the sky': Bob Jeffrey, NASCAR and IndyCar title-winning spotter dies

Askew, the 27-year-old American driver, hasn't logged an IndyCar start in nearly three years since he ran a season-closing three-race slate with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing as RLL held open tryouts as it expanded to a third full-time entry. During that 2021 season, Askew also served as a replacement driver for Felix Rosenqvist in Detroit and Rinus VeeKay at Road America after both drivers suffered injuries severe enough to keep them out of at least one race.

Since then, Askew took part in a test day last fall with Ed Carpenter Racing as ECR considered him for a part-time role in 2024 that eventually went to 2023 Indy NXT champ Christian Rasmussen.

As another option, the team's sporting director Tony Kanaan also routinely has his racing suit, helmet and seat on-site for all races he attends as it lives in one of the team's transporters. According to a post on his Instagram stories, Theo Pourchaire, who the team parted ways with last month just weeks after striking a multi-year deal in favor of long-term plans with Nolan Siegel, is back in France after spending several weeks in the U.S. after his ouster. According to a source, he's unavailable to fill-in. Other options known to be on-site include former IndyCar drivers Devlin DeFrancesco and Benjamin Pedersen, who both ran full-time last year but were unable to secure rides in 2024.

IndyCar silly season: What’s next for Alexander Rossi and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Rossi remains the series' top free agent in a deep silly season market after agreeing to part ways with Arrow McLaren at the end of the year after the sides couldn't come to terms on an extension. Friday's incident comes just five days after Rossi's hopes for a top-10 finish in Race 2 at Iowa Speedway were dashed in a last-lap crash where Sting Ray Robb ran over the back of the No. 7 two turns from the finish moments after Rossi ran out of fuel.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Alexander Rossi has surgery on broken thumb from Toronto practice crash