Drivers agree with Slovakia race cancellation call

Many drivers agree with the officials decision to cancel the second race at the Slovakiaring, with rain falling at the circuit from midday, just before the first race at 13:15 CET and all the way through to when the second race was scheduled at 17:15.

The race will not be rescheduled, reducing the calendar to 23 races, with Sébastien Loeb winning the only race of the day, which itself was shortened with the safety car coming out after six laps and then red flagged when the 75% minimum race distance was reached.

“I’m the first one who likes to splash around in the wet, but there becomes a point where it’s simply too dangerous,” said LADA Sport Lukoil’s Rob Huff to TouringCarTimes. “The best that was going to happen was that there was going to be a huge accident and we were going to lose a load of cars. No one wants to see 12 safety car laps on TV, and we don’t want to sit behind the safety car, but we couldn’t hold the car in a straight line at 150km/h, and we were aquaplaning all over the place.

“I feel sorry for the fans, and for the guys (in the team), as I know we have more of a chance in the wet, but we can’t control the weather, and ultimately it’s just too dangerous.”

Jose María López also agreed with the call, with the Argentinian extending his lead in the points standings as a result and missing out on the tougher race for him where he was due to start tenth, which he recognised.

“I know I’ve been favoured by the decision, but I think it was the right decision. The track was very dangerous to race,” said López to TouringCarTimes.

“In race one it was raining with this intensity, but the difference now is that there’s a lot more water on the track…now it’s been raining heavily for a few hours and it’s even darker than the first race, so thinking about safety I think it was the right decision.”

Castrol Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini wasn’t sure if the race should have been started, but believes that the decision was perhaps made too hastily with the teams and cars still in the garages in parc ferme while the weather was assessed only by the safety car.

“To be honest, from the garage I can’t see the real track situation, for for me it’s a shame,” said Tarquini to TouringCarTimes. “In any circumstances we are a saloon car, we can stay behind the safety car and in maybe 20 minutes the rain would stop, or maybe not, and we could do a few laps behind the safety car, and after if it’s necessary we could stop the race. But maybe there’s a big lake in the middle, I don’t know.”