Callum Ilott furious with IndyCar's lack of communication on overnight track change

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Callum Ilott was furious and asking for IndyCar or the Long Beach Grand Prix officials to pay for the crash damage to his No. 77 Chevy after a piece of curb that was not present for IndyCar's initial practice Friday afternoon on the street course was reinstalled overnight without a word sent to teams ahead of Saturday morning's Practice No. 2.

Ilott crashed fewer than four minutes into the 45-minute session, ramping both his front tires up off the ground after running over the second-to-last apex curb in Turn 5. An IndyCar official told IndyStar that that individual curb piece had been in that position for last year's race and in numerous races prior, but it had been damaged during a sportscar session Friday ahead of IndyCar's first practice of the weekend. Because of the jam-packed on-track schedule, it had not been reinstalled before practice, meaning that the 27 drivers got 75 minutes worth of getting used to cutting the corner tighter without any negative effect.

And because the curbing had been present for Thursday's track walk and at race weekends prior, IndyCar did not believe any notification to teams about the overnight change to put the track back to its original spec was necessary.

For comparison, teams were told about new paint put down overnight around the pit exit and Turn 1 to better delineate the boundary lines.

After an eight-minute red flag for Ilott's crash, Rinus VeeKay crashed in the same spot in almost identical fashion, but Ed Carpenter Racing was able to get his car repaired enough for him to complete 18 laps in the session. Ilott just got one.

Asked for his thoughts while his team furiously worked to fix the car with three hours until qualifying, Ilott took offense to IndyCar's lack of communication.

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"I was doing the same line as yesterday (this morning). I don't understand what happened, but I took off when I hit the curb," Ilott said. "And if they didn't tell us (about a change), then they can pay for the damage, because that's a joke.

"It sets everyone on the back foot. I'm sorry to everyone on the team, but again, I was just doing the same thing as yesterday. If they changed something and didn't tell us, what can I do about that?"

He later tweeted: "@IndyCar @GPLongBeach I expect an explanation later today. Preferably before the session next time. Saves everyone from broken wrists and tens of thousands in damage."

Veteran IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was in the booth for Saturday morning's Peacock broadcast, agreed with Ilott.

"Drivers are going to try and extract the maximum (on every lap), so they're going to take a lot of the curb, and now, they're no longer able to take as much (as they did yesterday)," Hunter-Reay said. "That information should've been shared."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Callum Ilott furious after no communication of track change