Dries Vanthoor explains what really happened on the Detroit street circuit when he hit his brother Laurens almost exactly four years after the infamous clash at the Nordschleife
BMW factory driver Dries Vanthoor explained the collision at the IMSA race in Detroit and expressed his lack of understanding regarding the penalty handed to the #24 WRT BMW he shared with Sheldon van der Linde.
The contact triggered the second caution of the race. Vanthoor was given a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. This dropped the #24 BMW back to ninth in the final standings.
The Belgian, however, denies any responsibility for the contact that occurred exactly four years plus one day after the infamous clash at the 2022 Nurburgring 24 Hours and doesn’t understand why he was handed a penalty after he was hit by a Ford Mustang.
“I was behind Laurens, and we were braking for Turn 3. We were overtaking two GT cars in the process. Then, just before turning in, the Ford Mustang hit me and pushed me into Laurens,” the younger of the Vanthoor brothers told Motorsport.com.
“Of course, you don’t do something like that on purpose. But he touched me, and because of that, I couldn’t stop the car. This is why I hit Laurens. I couldn’t do anything else. I was just a passenger.”
The fact he was handed the penalty, Vanthoor was left scratching his head: “I don’t know. Maybe they only looked at my onboard camera and not the outside view. If you look from the outside, it’s clear that I was pushed into him from behind.”
The scene was not captured from the outside in the TV broadcast either, a replay only showed a huge chunk of debris which must have come from Laurens Vanthoor’s #6 Penske Porsche.
The 28-year-old was not happy with race control in general this weekend. Before the contact, he had already received another drive-through penalty earlier for tangling with the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus. The Lexus hit the wall but was able to continue with minor damage, ultimately succumbing to damage from further contacts later in the race when fighting for the lead.
“Of course, the contact was my fault, but he kept going, didn’t have to pit for repairs, and fought for the class win until ten minutes before the end. So I find it a bit strange to get a penalty for that,” Vanthoor said.
Due to the two penalties and an early pit stop for low tire pressures, the #24 could not convert its potential. BMW was the second-fastest force this weekend behind the dominant #31 Action Express Cadillac. The #25 WRT-BMW meanwhile maximized its opportunities and finished second.
IMSA statement
When reached for comment regarding the Vanthoor’s claims, IMSA provided the following statement to Motorsport.com:
“As a matter of course, IMSA Race Control — under the direction of the Race Director and supported by a rotating panel of race- and championship-winning endurance sports car drivers serving as Driver Advisors — carefully reviews all available information before a penalty is assessed.
“In this case, there were two separate incidents involving Dries Vanthoor in the #24 car for which penalties were issued: one involving the #14 car at 54 minutes and another involving the #6 car at 1 hour and 25 minutes. Both incidents were reviewed using the full range of resources available to Race Control. Following those reviews, Race Control determined that the #24 car met the threshold for incident responsibility under IMSA’s driving standards, and the corresponding penalties were assessed.”
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