Nolan Siegel "itching" to get racing after medically cleared for IndyCar Toronto race
Arrow McLaren driver Nolan Siegel shared that he is "itching" to get back on track after a mild concussion nearly meant he couldn't race in Toronto.
Nolan Siegel has been cleared to race in Toronto after a crash last Saturday in the Synk 275 had left with a mild concussion.
IndyCar's medical team had not cleared Siegel to race in the Farm to Finish the following day which he admitted, when speaking to the press, had been hard to watch trackside.
"Missing out on Sunday's race in Iowa was definitely tough", Siegel shared, "After a week of rest and recovering, I'm looking forward to being back in the car.
"That was not a fun time for me, and I've just been itching to get back into the car these past few days."
Running well in the Synk 275, Siegel had been running in the top 10 before he lost the rear and slid backwards into the wall with a hard impact.
The American driver had performed well in qualifying for both races in Iowa and had started in eighth in the Synk 275 but has been expected to start in fifth the following day.
Attending the medical centre after the crash, he had to visit once again on Sunday morning where the final decision was made not to clear him.
Despite gutted to have missed out on the race and valuable points, Siegel seemed to have a found a new appreciation for his love of driving by taking a seat and watching from pitlane.
In Toronto, he explained: "As much as I hated sitting out and wanted to get back in the car and wanted to argue with [the INDYCAR doctors], they know more about this than I do.
"That's the end of it. They know more about this than all of us do. And when they say, you can't do it, you can't do it.
"So once they said that, they put their plan together, they helped me get back in. They did everything they possibly could to help me get back this weekend. And I'm grateful for their help."
"Just coming here, if anything I just have a greater appreciation for what i'm doing. I will never take that for granted again and really, really excited to get back in."
Arrow McLaren Team Principal and 2004 IndyCar champion, Tony Kanaan, expressed empathy to Siegel's frustrations by drawing it to his own experiences of racing after a crash.
Talking on the 2001 Portland Grand Prix which he had decided to race following a crash at Detroit, Kanaan remembered that it had been a bad decision.
He said: "I crashed in Detroit on Saturday, got a concussion, "They sat me out in the race on Sunday, but we had Portland next week, and I am sure I wasn't right because that weekend, I was so slow in Portland. I started that and I crashed again in the first lap, and I couldn't understand why. And I felt fine.
"We’ve come a long way, and this is probably one of the worst things. You're looking at yourself, you're perfectly fine, and you think you're fine. Those type of injuries are so frustrating.
IndyCar medical team cleared Siegel earlier this week with Arrow McLaren confirming the 20-year-old would be in the car for the weekend.
The team's statement read: "Nolan has been cleared by the IndyCar medical team to drive this weekend in Toronto.
"He will pilot the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevy in their first primary sponsorship race of the season. He's en-route to Canada now and is expected to be trackside later today."
This will come as a disappointment to Linus Lundqvist who had been chosen to replace Siegel should he have not been able to cleared.
