At the start of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Ryan Briscoe was on the outside looking in.
He had no prospect for a ride in the series, and was looking at running only a few endurance races for Corvette Racing in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, the Australian got the chance to race at Indianapolis in a most unfortunate way: the devastating crash suffered by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe in practice opened up a seat that Briscoe was asked to fill. Briscoe was able to jump into the Arrow/Lucas Oil No. 5 Honda and, with minimal practice, finish in 12th place at the 99th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
Prior to this 2015 season, Briscoe was in negotiations with SPM to race their third entry, but funding did not materialize - Hence, when Hinchcliffe was unable to drive at the '500' after his life-threatening crash, Ryan was the logical choice to step in as a one race substitute.
Having previously committed to racing at Le Mans for Corvette, he was unable to race at Detroit and Toronto. Ironically, Jan Magnussen crashed the Corvette in qualifying, causing the team to withdraw the car and leaving Briscoe without a race car.
He raced on the Texas oval and finished eighth and had a good run at Fontana until his spectacular airborne crash on the front stretch as he raced towards the white flag. He was unhurt and finished in 15th place.
The remaining five races that Briscoe will be behind the wheel of the No. 5 car for are Milwaukee this weekend, Iowa the next, Mid-Ohio, Pocono, and the finale at Sonoma.
Be sure to follow @VAVELIndyCar for coverage throughout this weekend of the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250.
Cathy Shumaker is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section, Follow her on Twitter at @cathyshu.