Grove suffered a fractured vertebra after going head-first into the wall at Skyline after side-to-side contact with fellow Mercedes-AMG GT3 driver Kenny Habul.
Onboard footage showed the car get airborne before landing on all four wheels. A video of the crash captured by a fan showed the car concerningly close to the top of the concrete wall.
Speaking with Speedcafe, Grove said Supercars CEO Shane Howard had spoken with Motorsport Australia about the possibility of changes to that part of the circuit.
“All the way through the process, Dr Carl, he was on the phone working with our doctors, two hours after the incident,” said Grove.
“His help was outstanding and Shane Howard had reached out to me and we spoke about what opportunities there are at Bathurst to maybe put some screens up.
“I believe he’s had discussions with Motorsport Australia and hopefully they’re working through that.”
Speedcafe has verified that the matter was raised with Motorsport Australia and that work is underway with the Bathurst Regional Council to determine if changes need to be made.
“The conversation has been started and we will continue that with [the Council],” David Stuart, MA’s Division Manager Safety and Race Operations, confirmed to Speedcafe.
It’s not the first time a car has come close to going over the wall. Chaz Mostert famously crashed in qualifying for the Bathurst 1000 in 2015.
His Ford FG X Falcon straddled the concrete wall and took out catch fencing at a marshall’s post.
Grove advocated for changes to be made in the wake of his crash.
“We look back at Chaz’s accident back there. He nearly went over,” Grove continued.
“I think just the speed of the car, especially up there, to get airborne and go over there would be a disaster for everybody – not just the driver, the medics trying to get to you, the rescue crew trying to get the car back out.
“Hopefully they’ll work through that and come up with a good solution.”
Grove said he knew the crash would be bad from the moment the car got airborne and feared he might go over the wall.
“The force rotated the car around and lifted the car up — and any time you’re in a race car, which is not that often for me where you’re looking at the sky, you know you’re in a bit of trouble,” he said.
“We were really high. At one point for a split second I did think that maybe I was going to go over the barrier there which would have been probably a different outcome.”
Discussion about this post