Robert Wickens suffers 'orthopedic injuries' in violent IndyCar crash

Robert Wickens was injured in a violent and terrifying crash during the IndyCar Series race at Pocono on Sunday.

Wickens was tended to by IndyCar safety personnel after the crash. IndyCar said Wickens was awake and alert when he was taken to the infield care center and was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania, for evaluation. Two other drivers, Pietro Fittipaldi and James Hinchcliffe, underwent X-rays at the infield care center following the crash.

IndyCar said Sunday evening that Wickens had suffered “orthopedic injuries” in the crash. His Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team said he had injuries to his lower extremities, right arm and spine. He had also sustained a lung bruise.

Wickens was on the inside of Ryan Hunter-Reay as the two entered turn 2 in the early laps of the race. The two made contact and Hunter-Reay’s car started to spin around. Wickens car smashed into the wall and climbed up into the catchfence. When the car got into the fence it then started spinning around like a top while in the air. The car then slid across the track and came to a halt on the inside of the track.

Other cars were collected in the scary scene. And look at how close Wickens’ car came to hitting Hunter-Reay’s head.

The race was delayed for two hours because of repairs to the catchfence, which suffered major damage. IndyCar driver Justin Wilson was killed at Pocono in 2015 when he was struck in the head by debris from a car that crashed ahead of him.

Alexander Rossi won the race.

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter