Start line shunt delays race

The accident appeared to have been triggered when Adrian Fernandez (who qualified 10th in the 18-car field) slowed on the curved pit straight and was hit from behind by Jimmy Vasser. A chain reaction ensued behind, with Michael Andretti hitting Alex Tagliani, launching the Player's Reynard into the air. Tora Takagi and Patrick Carpentier were also swept into the incident, which was then compounded when Mario Doninguez steamed through at almost unabated speed.

The cars of Vasser and Takagi were battered by Dominguez' Herdez Lola and both landed upside down. Vasser soon wriggled out, but it took about 10 minutes for the Simple Green Safety Team to extract Takagi from his Reynard-Toyota.

Care was also taken in removing Fernandez from his car, for the Mexican may have taken a blow to his head. He and Takagi were taken to Gold Coast Hospital for evaluation and the extent of their injuries are unknown. The rest of the drivers were uninjured and all are expected to take part in the restart in their spare cars.

"I was just trying to keep pace," reported Vasser. "I couldn't see a darn thing down there. All of a sudden Adrian was going so slow. He probably couldn't see either. I wound up hitting Adrian in the back.

"We certainly weren't at top speed. All of a sudden I saw Fernandez - he must have checked up."

Andretti said: "There wasn't any visibility - that was the problem. All of a sudden I saw two Player's cars in front of me and I ran into one of them. There were just cars and pieces flying all over the place."


Added Tagliani: "I took it easy and was just accelerating a little bit. Then I saw Christian in front of me. We weren't even on it - just waiting in second or third gear and suddenly I got hit from behind. The guy that hit me flipped me over and threw me into the fence. I don't know what happened in the back."

"I couldn't see anything at all," said rookie Dominguez. "It was like being in a blind room. Actually I was going very slow because I couldn't see anything. All of a sudden the track was just packed with cars and I had nowhere to go. I couldn't even brake. I just hope everybody is OK."