Robert Shwartzman and Sting Ray Robb's big crashes create chaos at IndyCar Road America

The IndyCar Road America has been a venue of chaos in the early phase of the race. Within the first 10 laps, the 55-lap race witnessed three caution periods as Robert Shwartzman and Sting Ray Robb suffered massive crashes within a few minutes of each other.

The 4.048-mile track has been a tough track to master for many. The 14-turn circuit saw rookie Louis Foster take pole position, as accomplished championship and race winners were unable to beat the Briton's impressive laptime.

With the race getting underway, the event witnessed its first caution due to the beached AJ Foyt Racing IndyCar of David Malukas. Though the 23-year-old was able to rejoin the race, he unfortunately set a trend of cautions for the following laps.

After only a few laps of green flag racing, Shwartzman made a major mistake and lost control of his car before going rear-first into the barrier.

After the caution period for the PREMA Racing driver's crash was over, Sting Ray Robb had his incident. He was chasing Marcus Armstrong, who was on the slower but durable primary tires.

The Kiwi had lifted off the throttle, preparing for the oncoming corner, but Robb's pace delta was so big that he quickly caught up to the rear of the MSR IndyCar driver, which led him to take evasive action and go into the side barriers.

Frustrated by the incursion, the Idaho-born driver said over the radio:

"He just slammed the freaking door... I'm fine, I don't know what that was. Man I don't know, I don't know what that was. Don't know what that was."

Shwartzman's retirement at the IndyCar Road America Grand Prix comes on the back of his best result of the season as he finished inside the top-10 at the WWTR race last week.

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Robert Shwartzman and Sting Ray Robb reflect on retirement from the IndyCar Road America Grand Prix

Sting Ray Robb at the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand Prix at Road America - Source: Getty

With a disappointing race result for Robert Shwartzman and Sting Ray Robb, the two were left disappointed after their crashes. Reflecting on his crash, the former revealed how his rear tires locked up and caused him to lose control of his car, an issue that persisted from the practice sessions early in the weekend.

"We had an issue in the free practice yesterday, very similar [to it], where at some point all of a sudden, we don't know why my both rear tires just locked. So whenever I just try to dive in the corners, the same happened," he said via Bob Pockrass on X.

Meanwhile, the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver shared how Armstrong's pace difference into the corner was the cause of the crash, as he said over the FOX Sports broadcast:

"I'll go watch the replay... saw Marcus [Armstrong] who was on blacks and I don't know if he was fuel saving or not, but we had a great run out of turn three and I was thinking about passing. I don't know what I needed to do there. I'll go back and take a look, hopefully I can learn something, but it's not a good way to end our day."

On the other hand, the fourth caution of the day was brought out by Conor Daly, who overcooked a move while battling David Malukas.

Edited by Tushar Bahl