IndyCar: Santino Ferrucci apologetic after massive last-lap crash

Santino Ferrucci was very apologetic after triggering a massive crash coming to the finish line in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge race at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Crazy would be a massive understatement when describing the 70th and final lap of the sixth and final race of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The lap started with an Arrow McLaren SP 1-2, and the eventual race winner took the white flag in fifth place at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana.

Coming down the back straightaway, Marcus Ericsson made a bold move to pass both McLaren drivers going into turn three.

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But going into turn four, Patricio O’Ward made contact with the rear of Ericsson’s car, knocking both drivers out of the contention for the victory.

The win appeared as though it would go to either new leader Oliver Askew or Santino Ferrucci, who had a good run on the Arrow McLaren SP driver.

But coming to the checkered flag, Ferrucci made contact with the rear of Askew’s car, sending him flipping and allowing Scott McLaughlin to take the checkered flag with Conor Daly in second place.

Ferrucci placed third, with Askew fourth and O’Ward fifth. Ericsson had to settle for 11th.

Here is how the race ended.

The last half lap. And a race's worth of action packed in to it. #INDYCAR // #INDYCARChallenge // @IMS pic.twitter.com/unKYCOiYL0
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 2, 2020

As expected, the 21-year-old Woodbury, Connecticut native has taken a lot of heat for his action in the closing yards of the 175-mile race, despite the fact that it is only a video game.

When asked about the wild finish by NBC Sports Network’s Leigh Diffey in the post-race Zoom conference, Ferrucci was apologetic.

“We were sitting fourth going into the final lap, and I watched everybody get slowed up there coming out of last corner, and I was catching Askew,” he began.

He noted that he has been competing in several different virtual iRacing series as of late in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and the other styles of racing led him to make a move he shouldn’t have made behind the wheel of an open-wheel car.

“I’ve been running a lot of different series lately, and I was trying to get on his door because of the NASCAR style, and I got a little too close, and I think I turned just a touch too aggressive, and that’s my fault,” he continued. “That’s definitely my mistake there.”

While he admitted that he didn’t want to hold anything back in terms of trying to win the race, he reiterated the fact that his move was out of line, even if it is only a video game.

“I did not mean to come across the line through the air to a virtual finish, but also at the end of the day, we’re racing on a video game, and I am second, he is first, and I was doing everything I could to put our car in first place in Victory Lane, but that was generally my mistake, and I am sorry about that.”

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Let’s just hope that none of this carries over into real-life IndyCar action, because no matter who does it and no matter where the series is completely, it simply won’t fly from a safety standpoint or a financial standpoint.