'Trouble In Turn 9'
The WEC's stellar Full Access series offers a rare inside look at how race stewards deliberate incidents and possible rules violations.
As Alex Lynn rounded Losail International Circuit's turn seven and accelerated towards the high-speed turn-eight kink, he had a decision to make.
His No. 2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R Hypercar was closing fast on Augusto Farfus in the No. 31 WRT Racing BMW LMGT3.
Would Lynn have enough space and pace to slip by the BMW as they rolled through turn nine? Or should he back off, sacrifice a few seconds, and zip around the No. 31 on a less cramped part of the track?
Lynn went for it.
He moved the Cadillac to the bottom of the track and aimed it at the inside of turn nine. But Farfus had his eyes on the same bit of real estate--the optimal racing line.
As the BMW moved into the inside groove, its right rear struck the Cadillac's left front. Both cars continued, but the incident wasn't quite settled.
The relatively minor altercation some six hours into the 10-hour Qatar 1812 FIA WEC season-opener caught race director Eduardo Freitas' eye. The first episode of the WEC's stellar Full Access YouTube series shows what happened next--and provides a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the FIA officiates WEC races.
As race director, Freitas once compared his role to that of a policeman. His primary focus is on-track safety. Working with a team of marshals and other officials, Freitas makes decisions such as when to deploy a safety car. If he sees a potential rules violation, such as one car not giving another space to get by, he refers the incident to a team of stewards for review.
In the Lynn-Farfus incident, the stewards weighed several factors.
Jean-Francois Veroux, WEC steward chairman, pondered whether the BMW seemingly left space for the Cadillac and then took it away--a de facto block. Steward Michael Schwaegerl noted the speed differences between the two cars when the contact took place--25-30 km, according to WEC's data.
The officials then turned to their in-house expert: driver advisor and pace car driver Yannick Dalmas. A four-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Dalmas provides informed perspective on what's reasonable and what's possible.
Dalmas recalled one of Freitas' messages during the Qatar 1812 pre-event drivers' briefing. When being overtaken by the faster Hypercars, the GT3s are permitted to stay on the racing line, the director told the competitors.
Dalmas also noted another factor: Six-plus hours of racing combined with turn nine's geometry meant a sizable patch of gravel had been kicked up from the track's edge and deposited along the turn's outside line, effectively making it a one-groove corner.
"For this case, probably, the Cadillac needed to wait" and pass the BMW after turn nine, Dalmas told the stewards. Lynn's move "was a little bit optimistic for me at this place, at this speed," he added.
Dalmas' colleagues agreed.
"The stewards, having considered the matter extensively, determined that the overtake of car 2 was too optimistic and imposed a 10 seconds time penalty to be added to the next pit stop," read Decision No. 73, the official document summarizing the incident and its ramifications.
The stewards issued 95 decisions during the Qatar 1812 weekend. Many resulted in no penalties. Some addressed pre-season issues, such as Ferrari AF Corse having the wrong tires for a test session. (Michelin determined it made a tire-allocation mistake, so AF Corse was not penalized.)
The most significant decision affected the No. 93 Peugeot. After running out of fuel with a lap to go and a second-place finish within reach, Jean-Eric Vergne used the car's electric motor to crawl home in seventh.
But he didn't go fast enough along the way and could not get the car back to parc ferme for post-race scrutineering--two punishable rules violations, stewards determined.
Their verdict?
Full disqualification for the Peugeot TotalEnergies No. 93 9X8.
References
Freitas once compared…
https://wec-magazin.com/eduardo-freitas-the-man-in-control/
FIA WEC noticeboard
http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/noticeBoard.php
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