IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe set to undergo further surgery
James Hinchcliffe will undergo further surgery in the coming weeks as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a crash during practice for last month's Indianapolis 500
The Canadian still faces an indefinite spell on the IndyCar sidelines while he recovers from injuries that included a broken pelvis and wounds to his upper thigh that were caused by a suspension component penetrating the cockpit.
He underwent emergency , and said that a follow-up procedure will be scheduled soon.
"It's another surgery where I have to be opened from the abdomen to undo some things that were done during the emergency surgery, just to keep me healthy and safe," he said.
"Unfortunately it's the kind of surgery that is of the nature that will put me down again for another couple of weeks. That's the difficult part to swallow.
"At the same time, the sooner we get that one going, the sooner I can get the rest of the recovery, get back to the gym, think about getting back into the car.
"We're looking at sometime in the next four to six weeks to schedule that surgery. Then it should be another four to six weeks before I'm really getting back into a full training regimen."
Hinchcliffe's accident was caused by a rocker failure, and a team analysis of the circumstances leading up to the crash suggested that the NOLA race winner was the victim of a freak occurrence.
"That's one of the first things I was curious about," he said.
"I sat with my engineers. I sat with my chief mechanics. I've been to the shop and seen the tub, seen the damage. It's equal parts fascinating and terrifying.
"It was literally one of those one-in-a-million situations. The part that failed is a part that we have almost no recorded failures of, ever.
"I know a lot was spoken about mileage of pieces in the aftermath of the crash. I know a lot of teams changed rockers, whether they were mileaged or not, after my accident.
"That is a piece that has almost a zero percent failure rate, so it really was a bizarre situation in the first place.
"Obviously with the suspension coming through the tub, again, another situation we haven't seen in quite some time.
"Immediately there were adjustments made and bits added and things done to prevent that from happening again in the future.
"But, honestly, I was just unlucky. At the same time I was incredibly lucky, [and] not only for the safety team being there.
"As the doctors will tell you, if that piece had been five millimetres in a different direction, it might not have been a survivable injury.
"But it's massively fascinating to me to know what can happen and what did happen so that we know how to prevent it from happening in the future."
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