Marcus Ericsson crashed in the fourth lap of the Music City Grand Prix this weekend but pulled off a remarkable comeback.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver took off to a height of around six feet but was nevertheless able to continue on to his second-ever victory.
Sweden's Ericsson was building on a win at Detroit two months ago, and he had to overcome a stop-and-go penalty after he had collided with Sebastian Bourdais. He was then able to recover the lead after 25 laps, and held that position for 37 of the final 49 laps.
Speaking after the race, he said: “I’m trying to figure out how I won the race after being up in the sky, thinking my race was over.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it. Got some good airtime. I feel sorry for (Bourdais). One of those incidents. I thought my race over there. Then we had to repair the car. I got a stop-and-go. We were dead last. It was all about trying to recover. I think the car got some damage, as well, from that flight.
“I thought I would try and recover as many positions as possible and have a solid top 15 was sort of my game plan after that incident. Then the team did a great job with the strategy. Pit stops were great. There were so many incidents. For sure there was a little luck there, as well, no doubt about that.
“But we delivered when we had to. I think the bottom line was that we were really fast. We were fast. In IndyCar, anything can happen. It’s been like that over the years. Once again today it shows that you can never give up, you have to keep pushing all the time, keep believing. If you have a strong team like I have, anything’s possible.”
There was more good news for his team as his colleague Scott Dixon took second, closing the gap to 42 points ahead of fellow team rider Alex Palou in the overall leadership.
James Hinchcliffe secured third place.