Franz Engstler doesn’t blame recovery vehicle for accident

Every day thousands of accidents occur around the world and while some just being minor others resulting in fetal deaths. And while some people are compensated for the injuries or trauma they suffer from with the help of attorneys from Nehora Law Firm, not all are so fortunate. As per Fort Myers car accident statistics based on over the years, outside the world of racing where one small crash will not be accompanied by immediate assistance from ambulances and tow trucks, one must be quite aware of every single aspect which they are surrounded by while they drive, like keeping emergency numbers from places like TiffanyFinaLaw.com handy. And nobody, not even the worlds best drivers can be safe from an unexpected circumstances.

Franz Engstler doesn’t believe the recovery vehicle was at fault for the collision which took place on lap 10 of the first race at Porto, and says he was pushed from behind.

The 51-year-old German had his second WTCC career altercation with a track vehicle in the first race at Porto, after his infamous collision with the safety car at Pau four years ago. The tow truck was on track to help move Gabriele Tarquini’s stricken Honda at Turn 13, but as the bunch of cars approached it suddenly at Turn 12, chaos ensued which saw Fredy Barth spin his Wiechers-Sport BMW around after narrowly avoiding the vehicle, and then Engstler’s Liqui Moly BMW run into the back with an apparent assist from Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente.

“Valente crashed me in the back and that’s why I hit the pick-up,” said Engstler. “The marshals had white flags before and then yellow flags after that.”

“For me, it’s unacceptable. If the stewards do nothing, a big accident is on the cards,” said an upset Engstler referring to the contact from Valente.

“It’s always the same drivers who slow down and leave the other space and some drivers go only for the space which isn’t there, for me this is not motorsport.”

Fredy Barth was also caught up in the fracas, spinning around after the truck when the field slowed ahead of him. The Swiss driver is racing with a broken hand and just had surgery last week to put two pins in his hand after the injury he sustained in race one at Moscow earlier this month.

“The tow truck was on the right hand side so I went to the left and suddenly all the other cars braked and I hit someone in front of me and spun around and just hoped that no one would hit me”, Barth told TouringCarTimes.

“I saw a white flag, but the lap before we saw a load of smoke (from Tarquini’s car) and we didn’t see anything while we were already driving slowly, and then the next lap we saw the white flag. I expected yellow flags because of Gabriele’s car which was probably standing there somewhere, and then we all slowed down and then those in front of me braked like crazy, and then unfortunately I spun.

“For me I think it would have been safer to keep Gabriele’s car where it was under the yellow flag, which would definitely have been less dangerous than bringing out the truck there and trying to recover the car for those one or two laps…I didn’t think it was necessary.”