Smoke began to pour from the #20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy and he was duly called to the pit lane. It later proved to be a gearbox-related issue.

Onboard footage of Alex Palou’s #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda appeared blurry by the oil slick the 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner left behind.

Parked in the pits as the team diagnosed the issue, Rossi’s car erupted. One crew member was briefly alight while the car and the fuel nozzle burned.

There were frantic scenes as Rossi leapt from his car and crews figured out what to put out first.

The fueller who found himself on fire was taken to the trackside medical centre where he was cleared of any major injuries.

Rossi was gutted by the failure that put paid to what he said was a car with race-winning potential.

“It’s always a terrible situation and it’s so disappointing,” said Rossi.

“That was such a phenomenal race car and the team made a great decision to stay out there when that first split happened with the strategy.

“Everything that we were doing ont he #20 Java stand was awesome. That’s what’s so painful about this place is you have to have so many thigns go right. It’s just disappointing because it’s another opportunity gone. That’s the way it goes.

“I don’t know the whole details, all I know is the gearbox was starting to go up in temp a lot. I don’t know if oil was starting to come out or what, but it was a gearbox issue.”