Saturday’s driving day started with a mix-up by the organizers.
The final round of the World Rally Championship will be held in Japan. PDO
The Japanese rally organizers have enough passion to organize a World Series competition, but sometimes the enthusiasm goes overboard.
The job became dangerous at the start of Saturday’s driving day.
The first car to start the route Thierry Neuville I was sent on my way, even though the zero car ensuring EK’s safety had not yet reached the finish line to confirm the route as safe.
The Hyundai driver encountered a zero car that had stopped at the edge of the stop. That should never happen in a rally race.
Neuville took off the pace in a completely orthodox way, stopping next to the zero car. For that, the Belgian was waved as a sign of passing, but Neuville stayed on the scene for the report.
The clip was flagged as suspended. Takamoto Katsuta had time, or was allowed to, however, to the baana.
Making a hard climb after his mistake yesterday, the Japanese drove the zero car into the parking lot at full race speed. Katsuta had to change his lane when he suddenly noticed a car in front of him.
The organizers made the worst mistake by letting them in as well Esapekka Lapin on the way, even though the jury had already stopped the clip.
After a short pause for reflection, the race organizers restarted the EK. The leading cars drove the special test normally, the other Rally1 drivers were given a calculated time.
Kalle Rovanperä was the first to reach normal driving performance. The Finn was not happy about the extra wait.
– There was a long wait, because the clip was cut for a while. I had a wet and damp start with cold tires. It was quite a careful ride, no extra program came on.
Dangerous situation last year
Rally Japan, which made its return to the World Rally calendar last year, still has a lot to learn.
In addition to this year’s confusion, last year’s memory has seen a very serious dangerous situation, when a civilian car was allowed on the route in the middle of EK.
A civilian driving in the opposite direction met you Teemu Suninen and Sami Pajarin but luckily for everyone, no hits were avoided.
The international automobile association FIA took over the investigation of the case. In the end, it was content to give the race organizers only a warning.
This year’s mix-up can already bring a fine.