Rally Catalunya - tragic accident

[dkstz]

http://rally.racing-live.com/wrc/en/headlines/news/detail/060324133139.shtml
"The organisers of Rally Catalunya announced at 12.30 that co-driver Jörg Bastuck was killed in an accident during SS2, the El Montmell 1 timed event.

The driver of the Citroen C2 GT no54, Aaron Nicolai Burkart is not injured. As a sign of respect, the race organisers announced the cancellation of the podium ceremony, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday in Salou."

anyone alse knows about this?? I'll try to find more info on that, but this seems a tragic accident just like the one in GB last year.

edit: sadly, it is real. On the official web site http://www.wrc.com/page/News/BreakingNewsDetail/0,,10111~806772,00.html
The car was off road and Bastuck was changin a wheel when he was hit by another car. The final ceremony is cancelled as a mark of respect for those next to him.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

I read about it on Autosport.com. It's a bit shocking that he was hit by another competitor who was having an accident at the same corner.

 

[graveslids]

From Crash.net-

"JWRC: Co-driver dies following Catalunya incident.



The opening day of Rally Catalunya has been overshadowed by the death of co-driver Jorg Bastuck following an accident on SS2.

Bastuck was alongside Aaron Burkart in the #54 Citroen C2 when the car went off the road during the first run of the 24.14km El Montmell stage. While Bukart and Bastuck were uninjured in the incident itself, Bastuck was hit by the next car into the stage - namely the Ford Fiesta of Barry Clark and Scott Martin - when it left the road at the same place as he was changing a wheel on the C2 Super 1600.

The 36-year-old was airlifted to hospital but succumbed to the severe injuries sustained in the accident.

"It is with deep regret that the organisers announce that Jorg Bastuck, co-driver in car number 54, has died as a result of injuries sustained during an accident in Special Stage 2 (El Montmell 1)," a statement from the rally organisers read. "Jorg Bastuck's family has been informed. The driver of car number 54 is uninjured.

"As a mark of respect, there will be no celebrations in Salou at the finish on Sunday 26 March."

Rally Catalunya was the first Junior World Rally Championship event of the season for Bastuck and Burkart, who were competing in the PRT Motorsport C2 with backing from the OMV World Rally Team.

"Jorg Bastuck's death is a tragic loss to all of us," OMV head of sponsoring Brigitte Muhlwisch said. "Our thoughts and sympathies go to his family."

All I can do is also offer my sympathies to family and friends.

 

[DQuaN]

Oh man that's horrible.

The driver of the second car must be mortified.

 

[ExigeEvan]

That's a harsh way to go out

Condolences to the family.

 

[Gabkicks]

this is very sad news... like exigeExcel said... what a horrible way to die.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Sad sad news, its just terrifying to think. Hopefully there will be no more tragic accidents this year.

 

[Dave A]

That surely could have been avoided, if they wen't off part way round a corner and had to change a wheel the driver could have stood where anyone coming towards the corener could see him so they'd know there was an accident on the bend.

Still a terrible accident and let's hope there are no more casualties.

 

[Jay]

Oh no, sad. Co-driver death 2005 and 2006 season

 

[Mr. Boy]

The WRC must really be smarting from these tragedies. Richard Burns lost to cancer, and two co-driver deaths in less than a year. My God...

 

[GT40 MKII]

that is sad as dquan said The driver of the second car must be mortified.

 

[BMWteamPTG]

aw man...you know, drivers know how dangerous racing is. no matter what kind of racing, its dangerous. they accept that but think itll never happen to them. just like we think itll never happen to us.

God Bless him and his family. hope that deaths are less common for the rest of the year....carpe diem

 

[Gabkicks]

yeah but thats the mentality it takes to get out there and drive wether it be on the road or track or stage. We follow the rules but sometimes tragic things happen. There are many what if's... how could this be prevented from happening again? will there be steps taken to prevent this etc...

 

[graveslids]

That surely could have been avoided, if they wen't off part way round a corner and had to change a wheel the driver could have stood where anyone coming towards the corener could see him so they'd know there was an accident on the bend.

Still a terrible accident and let's hope there are no more casualties.

yeah but thats the mentality it takes to get out there and drive wether it be on the road or track or stage. We follow the rules but sometimes tragic things happen. There are many what if's... how could this be prevented from happening again? will there be steps taken to prevent this etc...

Can you tell us about the circumstances that lead to it?

"First and foremost I'd like to express my deeply felt sympathies and compassion to Jörg's family. His death is a tragic loss. Until Friday last week I didn't believe in fate. Now I'll have to reconsider. We skidded off the road during a left turn on the second special stage of leg one, about four meters down an embankment. When our car came to a halt we were both unharmed. We got out and discovered that we would be able to get back onto the stage by way of an old dirt road after we had changed the tyres. On the side our car was proteced by a tree - so we got to work. Jörg took off his crash helmet in order to better hear the engines of approaching cars - each time this happened we sought protection on the side behind the tree. As I was tightening the nuts on the left front wheel I heard a loud crash. When I looked up a second car was leaning against ours, only slightly overlapping. This car had hit a tree up on the stage, overturned and then crashed into our car with its rear end. Jörg had just been storing the damaged tyre into our trunk and was therefore right between the cars - we just hadn't heard this car approaching. I still can't believe the string of unfortunate circumstances that lead to this tragedy."

-Aaron Burkart

At first, when I heard about another death, I was quite upset with the FIA for not restructuring its ambulatory services and course marshalling in light of the loss of Beef. However, given this account from the driver I'm not too sure what could of been done to prevent this tragedy. Ofcourse not being there, and not seeing if there was any warning for the following crew, I'm not sure where to look at this one. I can't say if it was bad marshalling or just driver trying to get that extra 0.1 sec before slowing for the incident.

 

[VTRacing]

Of course not being there, and not seeing if there was any warning for the following crew, I'm not sure where to look at this one. I can't say if it was bad marshalling or just driver trying to get that extra 0.1 sec before slowing for the incident.

I would say that the following car would not have known there was already a car off the road there.

The usual procedure if you go off the road in a rally (particularly if your car may be a hazard to other cars) is to put out reflective warning triangles to let following crews know that they need to slow down. I imagine that because Burkart's car was so far down the embankment, certainly not impeding another car's progress, and that they were trying to get going again, they decided not to put the triangles out.

As for marshalling, it's probable that the incident happened away from any marshalled area, which is usually the case.

I've been involved in a similar incident here in Australia after I rolled down an embankment. We had our triangles out to warn other cars about the corner, but still another driver got it wrong, rolled down the hill and ended up parked next to my car. If I'd been changing the right rear tyre he would have hit me. The thing to remember is that if you've got a corner wrong and gone off the road, it's quite possible that another driver could make the same mistake and end up in the same spot.

But having said that, it seems that the crew of the first car were aware of the danger and were trying to hide behind their car and a tree when they heard other cars coming. That's what I do in the same situation. They just didn't hear the most important car.

There is a rule in place in Australia that all crew members have to keep their helmets on, even after going off the road. That was brought in after a co-driver was put in hospital after being hit by another car. She still had her helmet on and it most likely saved her life.

The only other thing they could have done is to make sure their triangles were placed on the road to get other cars to slow down. But there is no guarantee that a car won't crash there anyway.

Without knowing more details, I think we have to put this down to a cascade of unfortunate decisions from both crews which have combined to result in tragedy.