Disregarding safety is unforgivable in a sport like rallying, writes Urheilu’s Micke Suopuro.
Micke Suopuro
There’s no point in debating the matter any further: you can’t drive the World Rally Championship in Greece anymore next year.
In the ongoing race, we saw already on Friday such a shocking disregard that the decision-makers on the side of the International Motor Sports Federation (FIA) and the promoter of the World Championship cannot look past.
Let’s start with special test four, where the viewer decided to shoot the inside bend in the bend Esapekka Lapin car. You can watch the video of the event above or behind this link. The toiling caused the suspension of the fast track.
If Lapland’s driving line had been a little more inland, the car would have also cut something other than a bend.
The carelessness of an individual viewer could not be invoked in Friday’s first clip, where something even more gruesome was proven. For an unknown reason, a group of spectators had decided to go to the outside corner to watch the driving – that is, in a completely wrong place.
The worst of all was about to happen when the Estonian driver Georg Linnamäki the car veered off the road straight into the spectators. Only sheer luck prevented the Hyundai from running over one or more spectators.
The viewers can of course blame themselves. Viewing areas are defined for a good reason: watching the rally in them is basically safe. Other areas are prohibited for good reason. Even if car after car completes the corner with honor, it only takes one driving mistake or a technical fault in the wrong place to cause a disaster.
However, the final responsibility always rests with the rally organizers. There must be enough organizers to direct spectators to the right places. If the spectators do not listen, the special test must be stopped immediately.
It is hard to believe that a dozen people would have suddenly jumped to a dangerous place to watch the race just before Linnamäki arrived. The possibility of preventing the series of events therefore existed.
In the end, it’s just about the carelessness of both the organizers and the spectators. Both are unforgivable in a sport like rallying.
The fact that pure luck has prevented total catastrophes is not reason enough to let the matter sink into oblivion.
The organizers of the Greek Rally have an agreement to organize the World Series race until 2025, but the FIA and the World Series promoter have to put the race on ice.
It shouldn’t even have to be discussed.