Read: Dodging airborne tires is no way to start a season

I ran through everything from batteries to suspension arms, but then I saw a bouncing wheel. I ducked to the left, and the next thing I knew the tire hit my front wing, then my nose, traveled inches away from my head and took out my right mirror.

Here’s some on-board video that shows my race start from turn 1 through the incident in turn 3:

I lost a position into turn 4 to Luiz Razia because I simply could not see him, and then I knew it was going to be a tough race. The next 10 laps were the toughest 10 laps I have ever driven.

Eventually, it got so bad that I could no longer hang on. The car snapped violently coming out of turn 14, which I caught and then again, but the rear hit the wall. The suspension was bent and our race was over. I believe that something was coming loose and finally gave way because there is no way a car could degrade that fast over 10 laps.

I’m looking forward to Long Beach, though — I know I can take these guys! We just need the stars to align so that we aren’t stuck fixing little problems. I have confidence that my BHA guys will fix all the tiny issues. (And I hope my engineer isn’t pulling his hair out too much right now!)

Thanks for reading. See you after Long Beach!

Lloyd

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Lloyd Read races in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires for Bryan Herta Autosport. Follow him on Twitter at @lloydread16 and on Facebook.

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