Nobody was hurt in the huge start-line crash that marred the beginning of race three of the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.
The final encounter of the British Touring Car Championship this weekend around the Norfolk venue was red-flagged immediately after the start after Hunter Abbott rolled following contact with Mark Howard, subsequently hitting the ITV4 tower and toppling it.
Initial contact between Alex Martin and Howard start the incident before Abbott and then Ollie Jackson arrived on the scene and made contact as well.
“Drivers are all fine and we sent the cameraman to the medical center,” a member of the medical team reported.
Broadcaster ITV reported that the cameraman was "shocked but OK."
Abbott exclaimed “I’m fine. I’m not exactly sure what happened. Alex Martin and Howard came together, I went to the left to avoid it and ran out of track. I hit a car and that’s what started the rolls off. I didn’t know I clipped a camera post, so I was quite worried, but I’m told he’s OK.”
Unsurprisingly, Views Differed On The Cause.
“I was on the outside and Dan was just forcing me wide onto the grass,” Jackson explained. “He could have given me room but we made contact side-by-side and then the next thing I knew, I got a hit in the rear and spun across in front of Abbott and into the barriers. It could have been avoided.”
“I made the move on Ollie onto the back straight and he ran wide, and then he came back on and hit my car,” Welch countered. “I think the suspension broke as the car suddenly turned left and I had no control over it. I was just sat in the middle of the circuit and it was a big hit from Sutton; there was nothing he could do. The whole thing was completely unnecessary and my car is destroyed.”
Whilst Sutton insisted he saw nothing through the dust kicked up in front before suddenly coming across the stationary Proton in front of him, Abbott admitted it was hard to apportion blame from his perspective.
“Dan and Ollie were side-by-side and Dan was squeezing Ollie out onto the grass and Ollie didn’t want to give up the position,” Abbott reported. “When they made contact I had to make a decision over which way to go and went to the right, but then Ollie came spinning back across me and there was just nowhere for me to go.”
Luckily it has been reported that all involved were not injured. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship is the UK's biggest car racing championship, and stars highly-modified saloons and hatchbacks similar to those seen on their nation's roads.
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