The contest was suspended after the race-leading Craft-Bamboo Mercedes driven by Ralf Aron piled into the stationary Tsunami RT Porsche of Johannes Zelger at Forrest’s Elbow.
While both drivers were able to exit their cars under their own steam, Aron was seen crawling across the track and has now been confirmed to have suffered a broken back.
Zelger had been one of several lapped runners to receive a ‘wave-by’ to overtake the leading cars during the Safety Car period that had ended on the previous lap.
It’s believed Zelger tagged the wall across the top of the mountain and, travelling slowly, was then tipped into a spin at The Elbow by Kai Allen.
The following Volante Rosso Aston Martin of Damien Hamilton stopped to avoid Zelger, while the next eight cars were able to trickle past on driver’s left without incident.
Hamilton pulled left to move past the stricken Porsche just as Aron – who did not have radio communications at the time – arrived on the scene and crashed head-on into Zelger.
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Officials have come under heavy fire for their handling of the scenario, given the timeframe during which the horror scenes played out.
Amateur footage of the incident posted online indicates almost 30 seconds elapsed between Zelger spinning and then suffering the hit with Aron.
Broadcast footage showed double-waved yellow flags were deployed by the marshals at the flag point prior to Aron’s arrival.
It’s understood that MA officials held initial discussions with Craft-Bamboo officials on the Sunday night following the race, requesting in-car footage of the accident.
Aaron and Craft-Bamboo have both subsequently released statements asking for answers from race control.
“We have requested a review of the flag and safety procedures with race control to drastically improve safety in this area,” read a Craft-Bamboo statement.
The team noted “those that saw the incident know this accident was unavoidable by the driver.”
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While there were double yellows at the point just metres prior to the stationary Porsche, there were no flags being waved at the point further up the road towards the Dipper.
Notably, FIA guidelines state that yellow flags should “normally be shown only at the marshal post immediately preceding the hazard”.
However, the clerk of the course “may order them to be shown at more than one marshal post preceding the incident”.
It’s unclear if such instruction was issued, or why the Safety Car was not immediately called, given the precarious position of the Porsche and the fact the leaders were bearing down.
The incident has put heat on race control as well as increased scrutiny on the wave-by rule which puts previously lapped cars ahead of the leaders on restarts.
Motorsport Australia is yet to provide an update on the status of its investigation.
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