Gregson Mathe
This one is a bit of a oddity, but still is pretty insane.
What you’re about to watch is not gory and is a testament of how well made these GT race cars truly are. During the FIA GT world cup Laurens Vanthoor was battling for the lead when he was overtaken by Earl Bamber just prior to coming into a 150+ MPH corner on the Macau’s street racing circuit. What happened next was the stuff of nightmares.
Vanthoor clipped the inside curb, shot out wide, hit the outside wall, and flipped on his roof while sliding hundreds of feet down the straight.
After this crash, the race was red flagged and was never restarted, but the drama did not end there. The aforementioned Vanthoor actually won the race even though he was clearly passed before the crash. How could this have happened? Motorsport.com explains:
When the race for the FIA GT World Cup in Macau was stopped and not restarted, the New Zealander Earl Bamber was in the lead at the wheel of the Porsche 911 GT3 R. However, the stewards of the meeting awarded the prestigious win on the legendary city circuit in the former Portuguese colony to Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor – the very driver who had just been overtaken by the Porsche in a sensational manoeuvre, and had caused the race to be called off after his serious accident.
Basically what that means is the stewards threw Bamber a penalty for a dangerous overtake. The penalty was 5 seconds and slotted Bamber down in 4th finishing position. To me, the overtake looked clean and Bamber was clearly in front of Vanthoor’s Audi when they entered the turn. This, of course, is testament as to why I’m not a race steward and just some dipshit writing about it on the internet.
This doesn’t take away from the totally bad ass way Vanthoor can now claim a victory. “Yea I won a race once. ON MY FREAKING HEAD.” He won’t say that as after the race he said it was regretable the way he won, but if it was me, I’d totally say that.
(Source: Motorsport.com)
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