An incident at this year’s Rally Japan is under investigation. WRCin which an unauthorized vehicle entered a section while a race was in progress at the timesomething the FIA described as “a very serious matter”.
A minivan entered the route of the twelfth section (Ena) this Saturday morning, forcing the commissioners to cancel the event after six of the eight cars in the Rally1 category. The television cameras filmed a stopped vehicle, in the opposite direction and near the starting linewhere the Toyota GR Yaris Elfyn Evans He was waiting behind a temporary barrier.
According to a report from the rally organizers, A civilian car stopped at a checkpoint, where five staff members checked the driver’s pass. But the driver did not show the required pass, skipped the checkpoint and entered the route. The vehicle was asked to move away, but it did not comply and remained in that location for more than 10 minutes. Police then arrived and escorted the vehicle from the scene.
This is the second time in three years that a civilian car has taken part in a contested stage of the Japanese round, following an incident in 2022 in which WRC2 drivers Emil Lindholm and Sami Pajari encountered a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction.
“We first need to understand what exactly the situation and timeline was, but I think it’s pretty clear what happened“FIA Road Sport Director Andrew Wheatley said Motorsport.com. “We have already experienced the same situation here, which is a challenge. First, we need to know exactly what happened, how it happened, and what we are doing to prevent it from happening in the future. »
“It is clear that what has been done in the past has not been enough and we must find solutions moving forward. There’s no excuse for this. It’s no longer like before, where there were no physical barriers. It’s someone who was arrested [por la policÃa] while they think about what to do with it.
“It’s different from last time [en 2022]. In the short term, for tomorrow [domingo]the action that was taken is as follows We will have additional people here, from outside the organization, who have already done an independent review of today’s steps, and particularly the last one. They were deployed to ensure the existence of physical barriers to ensure that this does not happen again,” he continued.
According to Wheatley, this incident will be examined by the FIA Road Safety Commission, which could have consequences for next year’s Rally Japan. In 2023, the event took place under yellow card warning, following the 2022 security breach.a process that could repeat itself by 2025.
“I would not like to comment [sobre lo que supondrá para la prueba del año que viene]but it is a very serious matter” Wheatley added. “The challenge is that it’s a good event, with good organizers and you have to try to understand how to make the test more consistent. The good news is that there were no injuries or problems.”
“It will go through the road safety commission. If there is anything abnormal in the safety report it will go through a yellow card process.” [advertencia] and will be examined by a delegation from the security commission, which will issue a recommendation. First, determine the severity of the problem, then establish a process to resolve it.. This will not be the end of the road, it is an important challenge for the organizing team, which will be subject to much greater scrutiny than last year,” he concluded.
