Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/561386
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 AUGUST 2015 20 Sport SPORTTODAY MOTORSPORTS British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson dies of head injury sustained in crash IndyCar driver Justin Wilson has died from a head injury sustained in Sunday's race at Pocono WILSON was struck in the head with debris from Sage Karam's car when the American crashed late in the ABC Supply 500 and was air- lifted to a local hospital. IndyCar confirmed yesterday that he was in a coma and in criti- cal condition, but in a press confer- ence shortly after 21:00 local time, officials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway broke the news of his passing. Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles made the announcement this evening before turning the mic over to Ed Carpenter, representing the rest of the drivers in the IndyCar Series. "Obviously Justin was a great pro- fessional driver and extremely good at his craft. Beyond that, he was a great guy, one of the few, if only, guys who was really a friend among everyone in the paddock," Carpen- ter said. "For me, for what Justin's gone through over the past couple of years and how hard he's worked... he exemplified the reason we all love doing this." He went on to add: "We'll all be back competing in his honour in the near future." Wilson's family released this state- ment shortly afterward: "With deep sadness, the parents of Justin Wilson, Keith and Lynne, his wife Julia, and his brother Stefan share the news that Justin passed away today after succumbing to in- juries suffered during the Verizon IndyCar event at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, August 23. "Justin was a loving father and de- voted husband, as well as a highly competitive racing driver who was respected by his peers. "The family would like to thank the staff at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Ce- dar Crest Hospital, Pocono Raceway, Andretti Autosport, and the Verizon IndyCar Series as well as the entire racing community for the amazing outpouring of support from fans around the world. "The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Wilson Children's Fund care of IndyCar." Justin Wilson Ferrari doesn't want 'fight' with Pirelli FERRARI team boss Maurizio Ar- rivabene says the outfit does not want to get involved in a "fight" with Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirel- li after Sebastian Vettel's failure at the Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel, on a one-stop strategy, was running third when his right- rear tyre exploded through Raid- illon on the penultimate lap, add- ing to the failure suffered by Nico Rosberg in Friday practice. Vettel reacted angrily in the im- mediate aftermath of the race, de- scribing the incident as "unaccept- able" during television interviews, before cancelling his additional media session. When asked for his view on the situation, Arrivabene explained: "I don't want to start with this back and forth, 'Maurizio said about Pirelli, Pirelli said about Ferrari' et cetera. "I understand the reason, as you understand, why Sebastian was disappointed, but that's it. I don't want to open any kind of fight, be- cause it's not the case." Arrivabene said Ferrari decid- ed to attempt a one-stop on the morning of the race. "It was our strategy, Plan A, main plan, before the race," Arrivabene said. "Normally when you do the strat- egy during the strategy meeting, it's based on data that you have." Arrivabene also made clear that Ferrari was given no warning by Pirelli over its plans. "We have an engineer; all the teams have an engineer from Pirelli," he added. "What do you think that engi- neer is doing? He's not there to eat chewing gum. He's there to check the tyres, to follow all the runs that you're doing and give the data to the team." Vettel and Rosberg were both left furious after high speed blowouts caused by punctures, with the latter accusing Pirelli of 'putting his life in danger'