Augusto Farfus of the #31 Team WRT BMW M4 suggests that the recklessness of Hypercar driving should be looked at after Team WRT lost both of their LMGT3 entrants to collisions with Hypercars.
The #46 BMW was their first retirement after Rene Rast, driver of the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid, triggered contact with the #38 JOTA Porsche of Phil Hanson, thus hitting the #46 into the barrier with the front significantly damaged.
It was, however, the second and more dramatic incident which saw #2 Cadillac driver Earl Bamber engaging a tense fight for second place with #99 Proton Porsche 963 driver Neel Jani.
After an ambitious move to the right as he lapped Sean Gelael in the #31 BMW, he clipped the LMGT3 car into a collision which spread debris across the circuit in addition to major barrier repairs triggering a red flag lasting over an hour and a half.
Farfus reacted to his car’s retirement: “All drivers (Galeal, Farfus, Darren Leung) in the #31 executed a very good race.
“Every single driver fulfilled his own task.
“Unfortunately, we’ve got both LMGT3 cars taken out by Hypercars and that should be a sign that this is something that needs to be reacted to.”
“What a day,” added Vincent Vosse, CEO of Team WRT.
“It’s a real shame when we see how much work we have put together with the number 31 and 46.
“And that was gone and not by the fault of our drivers.
“It is tough to swallow. Now let’s see what we can do at Le Mans to recover all of those points we have lost here.”
A double retirement at the round before the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans meant that the team were not able to secure the points haulage they intended after starting on the front row with the #46 BMW, and so the race on 15-16 June will enable their next chance.
