Injured IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin to return to Indiana

Mikhail Aleshin

After sustaining serious injuries in a crash during the IndyCar season finale weekend at Auto Club Speedway last month, Mikhail Aleshin has apparently made enough progress to warrant a return to Indianapolis this week.

In a RACER.com report from Marshall Pruett and NBCSN's Robin Miller, IndyCar medical consultant Dr. Terry Trammell is quoted saying that the Russian rookie will be transferred to Indy "either tomorrow [Tuesday] or Wednesday."

Trammell added that he'd like to keep him at Indy's Methodist Hospital for at least one night "so everyone can see him." From there, he can choose to stay in Indy or go home to Russia.

"It's his call and I think he wants to be back in Russia pretty quick, but he doesn't need to go into a rehab hospital," he said. "He's going to be sore everywhere for quite a while, but he's been walking around the hospital in California and he's doing really well."

Aleshin has been recovering from his practice crash at Loma Linda University Health Center in California. He suffered fractured ribs, a broken right clavicle, a concussion and chest injuries in the wreck, which saw him spin out and slide up into Charlie Kimball, then go over Kimball's car and into the Turn 4 catch fence.
Last week, Aleshin returned to posting social media updates.

Aleshin also spoke to RACER, and said that he was already thinking about returning to the cockpit when he first regained consciousness after his vicious accident.

"It's the first thing I thought about when I woke up – how is my car, and can I race?," he said to RACER. "At the moment, the only thing I have to do is my recovery, and then I will think about 2015 when I am better."