Coming to green to start the combined Canada/USA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge at Watkins Glen this weekend, there was a bit of a physics problem. The problem mostly related to how well their Yokohama tires found traction and grip in the grass, and whether or not it was possible for two cars to occupy the same space at the same time. As it turns out, the answer to both of those questions involves bent sheet metal. The incident saw a lot of cars too damaged to finish the race, and a red flag was called in an effort to clear the debris, mop up the fluids, and prep the track for green-flag action again. The race ultimately restarted with about 10-minutes remaining and produced some exciting sprint racing.
In this onboard video from Orey Fidani’s Pfaff Motorsports car, you can see the talent, patience, and luck involved with snaking your way through the mess of a red-flag-inducing crash. When there are cars flying off and crunching each other left and right, you resort to your baser instincts and scoot your way through any way you can. However, if someone else had spun in a different way, or had failed to hop on the brakes in time, Fidani might not have made it through. Talent mixed with luck. No slight to Orey, this was a proper Friday Night Circle Track kind of crash, and he made it through unscathed. Great work! In the process of this very move, he earned the “Yokohama Hard Charger Award” by gaining the most spots from his grid starting position.
View Comments (2)
You need to get your facts straight. this was not the crash that led to the red flag. in fact, it was only the first of three crashes. just after the end of the video, there is another first lap crash going into the inner loop. The course went double yellow for several laps while the debris was cleared from the incidents. on the restart, the field made it all the way to turn 2, where two cars collided and collected two other cars, blocking the track. That incident led to the red flag since the cars could not get by. The race resumed with two laps behind the pace car and then two green flag laps to the finish. I think that the race was a total of 4 + laps.
Tell the David !!