Formula 3.5 V8

Richie Stanaway survives a nasty crash at Spa

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  • #131487
    Girts
    Participant

    Just a week after Conor Daly’s crash at Monaco, Kiwi Formula Renault 3.5 driver Richie Stanaway experienced an airborne crash at the Spa circuit today:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNZRAc-pJlE

    The driver himself has confirmed that he’s (kind of) OK on his Twitter account:

    thanks for the tweets every1, I’m ok, although fractured vertebrae and need to be transfered to paris for an operation. #notgood

    After what was a victorious year in German F3 Championship and a race victory in his GP3 debut weekend at Spa, Stanaway has experienced a difficult start to the 2012 season in FR 3.5 Championship. Let’s hope he fully recovers as soon as possible.

    #202528

    Very scary – you see a car coming out of the spray like that and you think of Pironi. Hopefully he’ll make a good recovery – not good to hear of two drivers being injured on the same day.

    #202529
    AdrianMorse
    Participant

    The actual impact didn’t seem that hard compared to some other crashes that drivers walk away from, but two back injuries in one day is definitely a bad thing. Also, it’s not easy to see what can be done to improve safety in that area. As seen from Sauber’s car-cut-in-half video, there’s not a lot of room in a race car to put padding around the seat, or something.

    #202530
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    An even scarier one from the FR 2.0 series:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JQK5CGUJIlY

    Everyone is okay, as far as I can tell.

    #202531
    AdrianMorse
    Participant

    Wow, that was close! I know we viewers often complain about excessive use of the safety car, but this is a good example of how dangerous low-visibility conditions can be.

    #202532
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    I think most people understand the need for the safety car in low-visibility conditions. They only really start complaining when therace is started behind the safety car and there is no mist of water in the air.

    #202533

    Some news on the extent of Stanaway’s injuries:

    News from Richie Stanaway He fractured his 4th & 5th vertebrae and is transferred in Paris for further examinations & possibly an operation

    https://twitter.com/iRacePro/statuses/209926471731511296

    #202534

    @prisoner-monkeys That’s a horrible crash – never good to see a driver facing the wrong way on a straight in those sorts of conditions.

    #202535
    Girts
    Participant

    New update by Autosport:

    A statement from the iRace Professional group – a tie-up between the Gravity Sport management scheme and the Lotus Formula 1 team – said on Tuesday that Stanaway “will be out of action for several weeks”.

    The statement did not confirm if he will have to miss any FR 3.5 races, with the next round at the Nurburgring almost a month away (June 29-July 1).

    #202536
    Bullfrog
    Participant

    I’ve seen too many flying cars recently, and now Stanaway’s suffered some nasty injuries after Conor Daly and Felipe Nasr escaped unharmed at Monaco.

    Is it time to put some Indycar-style wheel guards on the back of the Renault, GP2 and GP3 cars? GP3 have just announced aero updates for next year, but Dallara designed all the cars, plus the DW12 Indycar – so they should be able to come up with some effective bodywork.

    I’m thinking of the bigger guards as seen in the Indy 500 – Andretti’s Long Beach crash showed the smaller road-course ones don’t really work (and I think they look better too).

    Not sure what can be done about cars facing backwards though, like the guy in the 2.0 Spa race, or Mike Conway’s crash at Indy.

    #202537
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    Stanaway is out for the season:

    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100184

    He is expected to make a full recovery, though.

    #202538
    Felipe Bomeny
    Participant

    Bummed for Stanaway. After dominating German F3 last season and displaying incredible pace during FR3.5 pre-season testing, he was a definite championship favourite. He did have a rather rocky start to the season, but I’m adamant that he would’ve been a race winner. Hopefully he enjoys a quick recovery and will be competitive upon return. I’m guessing his replacement will be Jan Charouz.

    #202539
    Felipe Bomeny
    Participant

    Cesar Ramos will replace the injured Richie Stanaway at Lotus for the upcoming Nürburgring round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

    #202540
    Prisoner Monkeys
    Participant

    Stanaway is expected to make his racing comeback by moving to the Posrche Supercup:

    http://www.speedcafe.com/2013/02/20/richie-stanaway-in-a-surprise-switch-to-porsche-supercup/

    #202541
    AdrianMorse
    Participant

    “My management still believe in my ability as a driver and rather than re-invest in me racing World Series by Renault or GP2 – the level I was before my injury – it looks like I’ll be doing Porsche Supercup,” he was quoted in the Herald.

    I don’t know the extent of his recovery, but I was hoping to see him back in a more relevant racing series. Apparently, Stanaway was hoping the same.

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