James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, hits the wall in the third turn during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS — IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of a local hospital following surgery on his left leg for injuries sustained Monday in a crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Obviously we’re relieved that James is awake and out of surgery,” Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team owner Sam Schmidt said.

“That’s the most important thing on our minds right now and we will do absolutely everything required to ensure a complete recovery.”

It was the fourth frightening wreck during practice for the Indianapolis 500 in the past six days.

A part seemed to break about 50 minutes into practice and the Canadian driver spun hard into the wall. As his car slid back down toward the apron, it briefly slid on its right side and almost flipped before coming came to rest upright.

Hinchcliffe’s left thigh was pierced by the car’s right front rocker and the piece of equipment needed to be removed, according to two people familiar with the crash who spoke on condition of anonymity because IndyCar and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports were not releasing details of the injury.

The surgery at Indiana University Methodist Hospital was also needed to stop massive bleeding.

“It’s gut-wrenching,” said defending Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, a teammate of Hinchcliffe’s until this season. “It’s terrible. There’s no other way you can think about it.”

IndyCar announced it would resume practice nearly three hours after the crash while it investigated yet another incident that has sharply raised concerns about safety with the famous race scheduled for Sunday.

Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden went airborne in crashes last week that raised questions about the impact of new oval aero kit packages on the cars.