GM product chief crashes 2019 Corvette pace car at Detroit race

The first car knocked out of Sunday’s leg of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix was not an IndyCar.

It was a 2019 Corvette ZR1 pace car driven by General Motors product chief Mark Reuss.

Reuss had just begun the parade lap, leading the IndyCar field, when he lost control of the car and it hit hard into the wall. The crash took out a good chunk of the front end.

Reuss and a passenger both got out of the car, apparently unhurt.

IndyCar brought out a back-up pace car -- this one driven by IndyCar veteran Oriol Servia.

The crash caused the start of the race to be delayed 34 minutes.

GM, in a statement, said neither Reuss or the passenger, Mark Sandy, a track official, was seriously injured.

“Both the pace car driver and the series official were taken to the infield care center, where they were checked, cleared and released,” the company said.

GM said it was “unfortunate that this incident happened.” The company attributed it to “many factors,” including weather and track conditions.

An apologetic Reuss posted this statement on his personal Facebook page:

"I want to thank you all for your well wishes today. I am ok. I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06's, Grand Sports, and other things. It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked. 

"Today I let down my friends, my family, Indycar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world."

Michael Wayland contributed to this report.