In car racing, the driver is on the spotlight, but without the unsung heroes that are the mechanics he (or she) would be going nowhere near fast.
Sometimes this occurs due to a mechanic’s fault. While each crew spends countless hours practicing pit stops and repairs, they are only human. Thus a mistake is certainly possible, if rare. This was demonstrated by an incident last weekend during the penultimate race of the 2015 Tudor United SportsCar Championship, which took place at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
FIA regulations are very concise regarding all issues, including who is permitted to work on the car and how tire changes can be carried out.
The Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 (not to be confused with the Challenge) of the highly experienced and successful Risi Competizione team drove into the pit lane for a scheduled driver and tire change. That’s a routine in endurance racing and, mostly, things run smoothly.
Not this time: the 458 suddenly slammed down on the ground with the left front wheel still missing. It didn’t look, or sound, too good…
The “win as a team, lose as a team” mantra is embraced by almost all outfits, those on the outside (including the press) find it easy to point a finger.
At first glance, the culprit seems to be the mechanic responsible for installing the new wheel, who’s waiting on the wall instead of rushing in. Guess what? It’s not his fault. Nor the driver’s, for that matter.
All endurance cars have an air jack system installed which raises and lowers the car that is operated by the crew who connecting a hose. In this case, those are the ones who fumbled the pit stop by lowering the car when it was still not ready. You can see for yourselves if you check out the footage carefully.