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Fuji WEC: FIA to investigate controversial Bradley/Yacaman crash

The contentious incident which saw LMP2 contender Richard Bradley retire from the WEC race at Fuji is to be investigated further by the FIA.

 #47 KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre

#47 KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre

XPB Images

#28 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2: Gustavo Yacaman
#47 KCMG ORECA 05: Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nick Tandy
#47 KCMG ORECA 05: Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre
#28 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2: Ricardo Gonzalez, Pipo Derani, Gustavo Yacaman
#47 KCMG Oreca 05-Nissan: Matthew Howson, Richard Bradley, Nicolas Lapierre
#28 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2: Gustavo Yacaman

Bradley's KCMG ORECA was hit from behind by G-Drive Racing’s Gustavo Yacaman in the late stages of the six-hour race.

The pair were battling for third place in class, Bradley having lost time earlier after another incident, when he the sister G-Drive Ligier-Nissan of Roman Rusinov were contesting the lead.

Initially, the stewards had given Bradley a reprimand for the clash with Yamacan after they had deemed him to have braked 37 metres early for the corner.

The KCMG driver was blamed for the incident after the stewards stated that "This way of defending his position explained the contact between the two cars."

"In the end, Bradley was very aggressive in his way of defending," said Yacaman after the clash. "Before the final incident I had a couple of contacts with him.

"It's a shame what happened because no driver wants to put another driver in the wall, it was never my intention.

"I went much faster than him, and then he changed, defended, made ​​movements and it was very unfortunate.

However, a subsequent stewards decision (No. 22) showed they appear to have reconsidered the situation.

The decision read: "With regards to decision No. 21, the Stewards at 20:30 today received from the team #47 new data in order to establish that driver Richard Bradley was under full throttle when he was hit by car #28.

"In order to consider whether or not this document could be a new element which can make the Stewards reconsider their decision, the Stewards decide to suspend their previous decision No. 21 until receiving new analysis and possible additional evidence.

"The Technical Delegates have taken data supplied by KCMG for further investigation and will prepare a report for the Stewards for the next WEC meeting. The competitor agrees with this proposal."

KCMG, who went in to the Fuji race with a 14 point lead in the championship, failed to finish after the accident while the #26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan won and the Yacaman car, which he shares with Pipo Derani and Ricardo Gonzalez, placed third.

This result ensured that Bradley and his teammate Matt Howson now trail Rusinov and his partners Sam Bird and Julien Canal by 12 points.

Interview by Luis Ramirez

 

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