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Callum Ilott out of Detroit race with broken right hand, Santino Ferrucci to fill-in

Callum Ilott will miss Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix after breaking his hand in his Lap 69 single-car crash in Turn 2 of the Indianapolis 500. Wednesday, his Juncos Hollinger Racing team announced that Ilott was reevaluated this week, and IndyCar's medical team elected not to clear him to drive for the seventh race of the season.

In Ilott's place, JHR has tapped Santino Ferrucci to fill-in for their injured rookie driver on Sunday.

Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Callum Ilott (77) crashes in the second turn Sunday, May 29, 2022, during the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Callum Ilott (77) crashes in the second turn Sunday, May 29, 2022, during the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Sunday following the 500, Ilott told IndyStar he believed he'd be able to race with a brace on his right hand he was wearing at the time, as Jimmie Johnson had after breaking his hand during a practice crash in Practice No. 1 at Long Beach. With use of a carbon fiber splint the team crafted overnight, Johnson practiced again the next morning and crashed again, but pressed on and qualified and raced Sunday.

Johnson's injury stemmed from not getting his hand clear from the steering wheel that then snapped around on impact and hit Johnson's hand as he tried to pull it away. Ilott made clear he got his hands well away from the wheel Sunday, but the violent impact threw his right hand away from the grip he had on his shoulder to try and avoid such an injury and into the side of the cockpit.

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Ilott's No. 77 appeared to get loose in the middle of Turn 2 and then spun around one full turn before the car connected with the wall head-on. It came to a stop after shooting across the track and making contact with the inside wall on the backstretch.

"All I could see was smoke, and I didn't know which direction I was going, so either the first hit or the second one, my hands just flew off," Ilott told IndyStar. "But I know I took (my hands) off (the wheel) because once I was gone, I was gone."

The crash landed Ilott 32nd in the race, coming off the first top-10 of his IndyCar career with 8th in the GMR Grand Prix on the IMS road course. He currently sits 24th in points (71), trailing three of the four other series rookies running the full-season and in the running for Rookie of the Year. Along with finishing second-to-last in the double-points 500, missing another race altogether will make it tough for Ilott to make up ground on Christian Lundgaard (17th, 103 points), David Malukas (19th, 90 points), and Kyle Kirkwood (21st, 77 points).

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Santino Ferrucci (23) prepares for his practice run Friday, May 27, 2022, during Carb Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Santino Ferrucci (23) prepares for his practice run Friday, May 27, 2022, during Carb Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ferrucci will make his second run as a substitute for an injured driver this season, following Jack Harvey's concussion suffered in the post-qualifying practice at Texas less than 24 hours before the green flag. Lucky for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Ferrucci had recently moved to the Dallas area and happened to be on-hand for the IndyCar race weekend. After starting last, Ferrucci worked his way up to 9th by the end of the race. Running with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing for the first time on Sunday, Ferrucci took 10th in the 500 to give him a top-10 in each of his four starts in the race.

Last year, he finished 6th and 10th in the Detroit doubleheader weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, despite crashing in the morning qualifying session for Race 2 and putting the crew in a scramble just to get a car out there for the race.

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Santino Ferrucci replaces Callum Ilott for Detroit