If you’ve ever gotten stuck in an elevator or behind locked doors, you understand the mounting pressure to get out. During the 2022 WRC Safari Rally, M-Sport rally driver Gus Greensmith and his co-driver Jonas Andersson found themselves in a similar debacle on Saturday after rolling his M-Sport Ford Puma on its side.
The three-day rally championship at the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Naivasha, Kenya, was undeniably unforgiving for the 2022 WRC rally crews. Body panels were mangled, windscreens were crushed, and tires gorged. Mother nature wasn’t dishing out any favors. Crews who made it to the finish line will confess the conditions were both unpredictable and punishing.
After rolling his M-Sport Ford Puma in a rut cutting off a right-side handler during stage 8 on Saturday morning, Gus Greensmith and M-Sport co-driver Jonas Andersson found themselves in a situation straight out of a scene from The Twilight Zone.
Jailed in the wreckage, the British rally driver and partner struggled for their freedom for an agonizing three minutes as spectators flashed out their smartphones for some captured-it-first prime-time coverage.
Photo: Twitter Screenshot/@mitskimiti
Disgusted by the turn of events, Gus Greensmith jail-broke through the wreckage and gave his audience a piece of his mind. “ You have one f****** job,” he blared out before offering a hand to his co-driver still trapped in the wreckage.
It’s difficult to understand how helpless one can be after a crash in full view of a crowd. To understand how Greensmith and Andersson found themselves in such a predicament, you’ll have to scroll through the 64-page FIA Rally Safety Guidelines pamphlet.
The FIA has strict guidelines on how officials should handle incidents on the track, who is responsible, and what procedures need to be implemented. It’s unclear why Greensmith and Andersson couldn’t get help from the wreckage for a record 3 minutes. Still, no part of the guideline gives spectators the responsibility to carry out a safety procedure.
In the short video, infuriated local spectators can be heard shouting in Swahili at one of the marshals, trying to figure out why none of the officials on site are responding to the accident. The Marshals politely tries to explain to the angry crowd that the Stage Controller is in charge of stage incident procedures and is aware of the crash. Beyond that, his hands are tied.
Photo: Twitter Screenshot/@mitskimiti
According to the FIA Rally Safety Guidelines, certain duties involving incidents fall on specific officials, including the Clerk of the Course, Chief Security Officer, Chief Medical Officer, Special Stage Commander, Special Stage Safety Officers, and Safety Marshalls.
In case of an incident, the Safety Marshalls communicate with the Special Stage Commander for instructions.
Page 10 of the Safari Rally and Media Guide pamphlet on “Procedure in case of an accident” states, “All medical and safety crews report to the Stage Commander. As soon as the stage commander has received information that an incident has occurred, he informs HQ. Should a serious accident be reported, the Stage Commander should let the stage safety officer interrupt.”
Greensmith wasn’t impressed by the protocols and expressed his concerns on his Twitter handle.“To clarify this video, we had been trapped inside the car for over 3 minutes whilst safety marshals filmed and did not assist either myself & Jonas in exiting the car," he wrote.
The Briton driver said he acted fast in reaction to what happened during the 2022 WRC Croatia Rally to Oliver Solberg when his car caught fire.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News