Alexander Hardt has been fined 300 euros for failing to move to safety in a timely manner following an engine failure on his #900 Black Falcon Porsche. He was nearly struck by Janina Schall’s #146 WS Porsche “Girls only” entry.
Instead of moving away, Hardt remained in the gravel trap and signaled for marshals, as his Porsche 911 Cup was smouldering. He then moved back toward the car as Schall approached at high speed. In doing so, he violated Article 13.9 of the DMSB Circuit Regulations.
The regulation states: “After leaving the vehicle, the driver must immediately proceed to the designated and secured area assigned to them by the track safety marshals.” This was clearly not the case with Hardt.
An investigation by the stewards was also launched against Janina Schall, as she arrived at the accident site at very high speed. However, the daughter of former racer Andreas Schall was cleared of any blame for the collision with the stranded Porsche.
The stewards concluded that Schall did not act incorrectly: “After they have reviewed video evidence in detail which showed that the driver of Car #146 had no chance of preventing the collision, the Stewards decide to take no further action and declared the collision as a race incident.”
The decisions are now made by the stewards rather than the race director following a procedural change introduced this year. To relieve Walter Hornung, stewards now issue verdicts, as is the case in almost all other FIA-sanctioned racing series, rather than the race director himself.
This change was partly due to the long period of time that used to pass between an incident and the imposition of a penalty.
The most prominent example was the “Grello” last year, when the penalty for Kevin Estre‘s collision with Rolf Scheibner’s lapped Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 was not issued until hours after the incident. This process is expected to be faster in the future.
Meanwhile, the 24 Hours is over for the WS Porsche. The impact with the other Porsche was so severe that a crack formed in the chassis. As a result, the car cannot be repaired in time for the race.
“The chassis is cracked – unfortunately, that’s it,” says team principal Matthias Moller. “Janina Schall was not at fault,” Möller explains. “The stewards have confirmed that.”
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