A “extremely dangerous” blaze that broke out in Sébastian Loeb’s Lancia Delta-themed World Rallycross team garage has forced the cancellation of this weekend’s British WRX round at Lydden Hill.
The sudden fire is thought to have been caused by the battery of one of the cars that was charging, and team members only just managed to escape without injury according to a statement by stewards from the FIA, the sport’s governing body, and based on video evidence.
But the reason it burst into flames is still unknown, and the battery manufacturer was unable to “provide an appropriate level of assurance in the system”. As a result, stewards said that racing could not proceed “with the assurance of the appropriate level of safety for the spectators, team members and drivers”.
Racing at Lydden Hill does continue in the RX2e and British Rallycross championship.
Flames engulfed the Special One team area at Lydden Hill on Friday, gutting its trucks and electric cars, which were due to compete in the hands of Loeb and Guerlain Chicherit, the stuntman and RX competitor, who runs the team.
Loeb had spoken of looking forward to returning to Lydden Hill, where he raced in 2017. Earlier this month, he told Motor Sport that getting behind the wheel of the car, with Delta-shaped bodywork, was a childhood dream.
A World Rallycross stewards’ statement, published on Saturday evening, read: “At approximately 8.43am on Friday one of the two cars of Special One Racing, caught fire. The fire subsequently engulfed and destroyed both of the team’s cars and transporter in spite of the actions of the local fire service.
“Video evidence shows that the fire was initiated at the battery of the car while it was in the team area charging, but it is not clear why this happened. It was evident that only extremely quick thinking by the team members saved them from injury.
“Urgent investigations into the root cause of the incident were initiated by the FIA.
At this time, it has been determined that the investigation has not progressed far enough to determine a root cause for the failure that led to the fire. Nor will the investigation be able to find the root cause in time for the event to proceed with the assurance of the appropriate level of safety for the spectators, team members and drivers.
“The battery manufacturer, Kreisel, was unable to provide an appropriate level of assurance in the system, pending their investigations.
“Therefore, following input from the FIA Safety Department and in cooperation with the promoters, in the interest of the safety of all concerned, the Stewards have determined to stop the competition. Other competitions in the Event will proceed as planned.”
