AF Corse Ferrari of Brian Vickers withdrawn from Spa six hours after warm-up shunt
The AF Corse Waltrip Ferrari has been withdrawn from the Spa six hours race following Brian Vickers' accident in the wet warm-up session on Saturday morning
Vickers, a NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner who was getting his first taste of World Endurance Championship action prior to his Le Mans 24 Hours debut next month, lost the F458 Italia under braking for the final corner when the circuit was at its wettest. The American then hit the barriers backwards before escaping uninjured from the car.
"I think I just applied too much brake pressure I guess," Vickers told AUTOSPORT. "We looked at everything and ultimately I locked the rear wheels up going into the braking zone.
"I was still on the straightaway, locked the rears up. The tyre temps were up and the car felt good - really quick through the first two sectors then going onto the brakes in the last turn and I locked the rears up and ended up in the wall.
"I really hate it for the team you know, they did a really good job. It was my first experience in the rain. Actually I had tested the car in the rain and really liked it and found it quite fun. But clearly unpredictable!"
The accident bent the F458 chassis and it was deemed unfixable in time for the race. It had been set to start 38th on the grid and sixth in the LMGTE Am class.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments