Course car at centre of AGP crowd invasion probe

The early release of a course car triggered a crowd invasion at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, an official investigation has revealed.

As first reported by Speedcafe.com, race organisers immediately launched a probe after a stream of spectators managed to emerge on the circuit during the cool down lap of Sunday’s race.

Television footage showed hoards of fans enter the track while the cars were returning to the pits following the chequered flag.

Australian Grand Prix Corporation chief executive Andrew Westacott says a failure in the race control process is at the centre of an ongoing investigation into the situation.

The AGPC is continuing to work alongside CAMS to analyse post race procedures to ensure the same mistake is not repeated in the future.

Organisers maintain that safety at its events remains paramount.

“CAMS as the ASN of the FIA is engaged to provide the official organising services as defined by the FIA sporting regulations, and what that means is they look after all sporting aspects on track,” Westacott told Speedcafe.com.

“They (CAMS) have indicated that their failure in the race control process led to an early release of a race control vehicle, which then signalled to people to that it was ok to access the track.

“They are continuing to review everything, being race control logs and talking to key personnel, CCTV footage and the like, and they are in contact with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s risk and safety team and the motorsport team to keep us updated.

“We will receive a full report in due course.”

CAMS declined to comment when contacted by Speedcafe.com.