4H Imola Red-Flagged After Four-Car Pileup

A four-car accident at the Tamburello chicane brought out the red flags during the first hour of the European Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Imola.

LMGT3 class polesitter Martin Berry was recovering from an opening lap delay in his No. 63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo when he attempted a move on Michael Wainwright’s No. 86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.

Contact was made at the apex for the left-hander, rotating Wainwright, who then spun back into Berry’s path as the Australian attempted to negotiate the right-hander that immediately follows.

Berry’s car was then hit hard from behind by Takeshi Kimura’s No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, who was in turn rammed by the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 Gibson of Paul Lafargue.

With all four cars put on the spot, the safety car was immediately called into action, but after three slow tours race control elected to stop the race while the stricken machines were recovered.

The race is due to be resumed at 13:05 p.m. CEST (7:05 a.m. EST) behind the safety car. The contest will be extended by the duration of the red flag, with three hours and 15 minutes remaining on the clock.

Jakub Smiechowski’s No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca led the race outright in the LMP2 class, with Filipe Albuquerque moving up to second in his No. 24 Nielsen Racing example.

Sergio Sette Camara headed the LMP2 Pro-Am pack in Nielsen’s No. 27 Oreca, while the LMP3 and LMGT3 classes were led by Paul Lanchere (No. 17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 Toyota) and Riccardo Agostini (No. 50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari) respectively.

Both Sette Camara and Agostini were ordered to start the race in their respective mounts after co-drivers Tony Wells and Custodio Toledo brought out red flags in qualifying.