WTCC drivers back the officials’ decision to abort the second race in China

The drivers have almost unanimously backed the call to red flag the second race in China after two laps, due to the treacherously wet conditions at the Ningbo circuit for the main race.

The race was red-flagged after four laps behind the safety car, with the result declared after two laps on countback.

“It was the right decision,” said Sébastien Loeb Racing’s Mehdi Bennani, who was also eliminated from the first race after contact with Volvo’s Thed Björk. “I think both were dangerous, but the second was worse than the first. These aren’t conditions in which we should race,” he added.

“It was a difficult call,” said Honda’s Norbert Michelisz. “I think the circumstances were already quite difficult in the second part of the first race, but if it was my decision I would have liked to try because except for the main straight, I didn’t really see many problems.

“But I respect the opinion of the others, and all the people I’ve spoken to said it was the right decision, so maybe it’s because I feel we had a better car than maybe Néstor (Girolami) or Thed (Björk) in the wet,” added the Hungarian.

“To be honest it was clever by the FIA to stop it, as even behind the safety car I spun,” said RC Lada driver Yann Ehrlacher. “John (Filippi) braked in front of me and I tried to brake and just lost the car on the straight. It was clever, as Japan is in two weeks, so if everyone had smashed their cars up we’d have no time to repair them.”