Safety car had no permission to exit pits

The safety car that went out after the first lap of the second race at Pau today didn’t have the permission from the race director to go out. The safety car crawled to the middle of the track while the race drivers crossed the finish line at full speed. The result was a crash between the safety car and the race leader, Franz Engtler.

According to Dutch TV channel RTL the safety car driver never got the green light from the race director to get on the track, but was simply told to be on stand-by.

“The safety car should get ready and wait for the race director to give the green light to go out on track”, an anonymous official was quoted by RTL.

“The driver didn’t wait for the permission. What happened next we’ve all seen.”

Engstler hit the Chevrolet Safety Car at a speed of 107 km/h.