BMW driver Dries Vanthoor believes AF Corse Ferrari rival Robert Kubica intentionally pushed him off the monitor whereas attempting to lap him in the course of the night time eventually weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Vanthoor has expressed his disappointment at what he believes was a scarcity of respect from the one-time Formulation 1 race winner after he was despatched to the medical centre for check-ups because of the sizeable affect from their collision.
Talking on the ‘Over the restrict’ podcast he collectively hosts with brother and Porsche manufacturing facility driver Laurens, Vanthoor stated: “I personally suppose sure, that he did it on function as a result of the best way he tried to defend himself was fallacious.
“The best way he didn’t care about me after the crash, or didn’t present any respect or simply human being to me, additionally confirmed to me that it was on function. Simply not caring, simply not coming to see how I used to be doing.
“I had a small concussion, I’ve somewhat factor on my left foot. Not doing any effort to even ship a textual content and know the way I’m doing [was disappointing].
“If I had a crash with somebody and I might know he’s damage or he has to go the medical centre, you’ll simply be respectful. I do know we’re racing and we wish to race laborious. This was simply very unrespectful [sic] and for me not completed and one thing you do not do in racing. It is utterly fallacious.
“It’s best to present respect. All of us wish to be secure, it is the primary precedence of each organiser, FIA, ACO, SRO. It is the primary precedence in racing.
“Even when he was pissed off, even when it was my very own mistake of the crash, which let’s be utterly straight, it wasn’t in any respect, I might have nonetheless stated one thing.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
“I might have stated, ‘sorry mate, I became you’. However he simply turned to the proper like no person was there and I used to be driving there, driving utterly straight.”
Vanthoor was attempting to remain on the lead lap in his WRT-run #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 within the ninth hour, having simply switched from moist tyres to slicks, when he encountered the race-leading #83 satellite tv for pc Ferrari 499P of Kubica on the Mulsanne straight.
The Belgian driver missed the second chicane on chilly tyres and needed to take to the escape highway earlier than rejoining the monitor, placing him within the thick of the struggle with Kubica – who beforehand raced for WRT in LMP2 – and the #92 Porsche GT3 automotive.
However because the ex-F1 driver tried to leap each approaching the braking zone for the right-hand Mulsanne Nook, he jinked to the proper and clipped Vanthoor’s BMW, pitching him head-on into the boundaries on the left-hand facet of the highway.
Such was the depth of the affect that the automotive bounced again and skated to the within facet of the monitor, earlier than coming to a relaxation with heavy injury to the front-end.
The collision between Vanthoor and Kubica marked a untimely finish to BMW’s race, with the sister #20 automotive having already been despatched again to the storage following a separate accident when Robin Frijns crashed on the Ford Chicane.
The stewards deemed Kubica responsible of inflicting the crash and handed him a 30-second cease/go penalty, a sanction that was described as too lenient by WRT boss Vincent Vosse.
Explaining the moments within the lead-up to the crash, Vanthoor stated: “Going into the second chicane, there was a Ford simply in entrance of us.
“So I used to be like, f**okay I must get by this Ford. So we braked for the nook, simply behind the Ford. I braked on the similar level as him.
#15 BMW M Group WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann
Photograph by: BMW AG
“However I used to be like ‘I must get this Ford between us [so] I haven’t got the blue flag’ as a result of he must move the Ford first. However I used to be on the within on chilly tyres on the moist a part of the monitor and I did not make the nook.
“I went on energy once more [after the chicane] and he had a run on me once more.
“I attempted to make use of the Porsche to gradual him down, however it did not work as a result of he had such a run, so I used to be honest in that method to make the area and let go the Porsche by to not make it harmful.
“And sadly, he determined to make it extra harmful and pushed me off the highway. That was it really.”
Vanthoor revealed that he obtained a number of hate messages within the aftermath of the accident on social media, with many accusing him of not respecting blue flags when a quicker Ferrari was on his tail.
Whereas he did admit that he had been instructed to do all the pieces it took to remain on the lead lap to stay within the hunt for a high consequence, the 2017 GTE Am class winner at Le Mans claimed he had sufficient time beneath the laws earlier than letting Kubica via.
“They [BMW] advised me it should be essential to maintain the automotive behind to remain on the lead lap, as a result of if you find yourself not on the lead lap, except there’s a security automotive then it’s totally troublesome to get your lap again,” he added.
“If you end up lap down, it’s totally very robust to unattainable to do one thing.
“For all of the haters who stated ‘why you exceeded blue flags’, I noticed the replays and I noticed there was a blue flag. However if you find yourself in a battle or within the second I actually didn’t see [it].
#15 BMW M Group WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor
Photograph by: BMW AG
“And even when I had seen it, I would not have completed something as a result of the rule is in WEC you may have one sector or two time to let any individual go for blue flags.
“Perhaps I totally didn’t respect the rule, however the rule stated I had two sectors to let any individual by. I did not attempt to let him by, however individuals can cease saying this as a result of it is bullshit.”
On his half, Kubica denied that he brought about the incident on function, stating that any try at touching one other automotive at excessive velocity would have jeopardised his personal probabilities for victory.
“Firstly, I am not the kind of one that would swerve into one other automotive at 300kph, main in a race and with 18 hours to go,” he stated in an interview with Mikolaj Sokol for Motowizja.
“By swerving into him I might be the one risking ending up within the boundaries on the proper. That is the primary argument.
“The second argument is that if it had been me [causing the collision], my automotive ought to have moved a lot earlier, not simply after contact. And that was not the case.”
Kubica additionally hit again at Vanthoor for not respecting blue flags or letting him by simply when he was about to drop a lap down, saying: “I come from a championship the place you may have respect for different drivers, particularly the leaders, particularly if you find yourself being lapped.
“Alternatively, there are additionally championships, and apparently that is what Dries races in, the place the blue flags and the principles and laws do not give a rattling [about them]. I am lucky sufficient to have grown up in these first championships.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica
Photograph by: Marc Fleury
“Nonetheless, there are drivers in slower vehicles who wish to show themselves in any respect prices. I do not know why.
“I do know Dries has been instructed to remain on the lead lap in any respect prices. Effectively if somebody tells me to leap from the eighth flooring, for instance, an engineer, I will not do it. However apparently there are drivers who would do it.”
The #83 499P Kubica shared with Ferrari manufacturing facility drivers Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye retired with simply over three hours to run resulting from hybrid points.
You may pay attention in full to the Vanthoor brothers’ podcast right here.
Further reporting by Tomasz Kalinski
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