Rusinov: Le Mans carryover penalty "very harsh" on team

Rusinov will be forced to serve the penalty at the next WEC round at the Nurburgring, after his second-hour collision at Le Mans with the GTE-Am Proton Porsche 911 of Khalid Al Qubaisi that forced them both out of the race with accident damage.

“We were preparing to Le Mans the whole year – I definitely didn't want to end my race after an hour,” Rusinov – who had started the race from LMP2 pole position – told Motorsport.com. “We lost plenty of points, we lost the possibility to fight for the race and claim the victory.

“I don’t feel comfortable with the fact that the penalty hit the whole team because of the racing incident. Why carry over something that happened [in] this race to the next one? 

“We’ve already paid a lot for this incident. Giving such a penalty to the whole team is very harsh decision.

“We saw such accidents many times in Le Mans. Let’s remember Mike Rockenfeller crashing with a Ferrari [in 2011], or Allan McNish [that same year]... I don’t remember them getting three-minute penalties for the next race.”

Lapping GT cars “on a knife edge”

Rusinov added that the speed differential between his Oreca LMP2 and Al Qubaisi’s GTE-Am Porsche in the Porsche Curves contributed to the collision.

“Every time you drive LMP2 car and lapping GT car, you’re on a knife edge, because you don't know if he sees you,” added Rusinov. “This year, speed has increased and we are approaching GT cars much faster.

“Surely, it’s hard for them to realize our approaching speed, because it’s not that simple with their mirrors. I know this very well, because I used to race in GT car in Le Mans in 2008 and 2009.

“When you’re at the Porsche Curves, the speed difference between GT and LMP2 cars is 80km/h. You lap GT cars there very often. 

“If you can come alongside the other car before the turn, then you're OK to overtake it, because [with] a GT car entering the corner outside and you stay inside. Most times it happens this way, but unfortunately not this time.”

“I apologized to Khalid, to the team and fans”

Rusinov believes the collision was a racing accident more than anything, as he committed to an overtake when the Porsche driver turned in.

“Yes, you can say I should have overtaken that Porsche later,” he said. “But if the door is open, and you can come alongside the other car, you do it. It's an instinct.

“I was inside the corner when Porsche turned into me. It was clear he didn’t see me. I immediately reacted, went left on the kerb and hit the brakes, but it didn’t work, because everything happens very fast at 260-280km/h.

“I apologised to Khalid, to the team and fans. I talked to him about it and he said in fact he wanted to let me by at the next corner.

“I raced eight Le Mans, six years in WEC and two years in ELMS, and not a single time have I knocked anyone out. The only incident I had with the GT car was in the USA during practice [in 2015], when we collided with Patrick Dempsey.

“I was inside, and he didn't see me. That was the only time.”

Interview by Yaroslav Zagorets