Additional Rain Lights for Prototypes in Wake of Nakajima Crash

Photo: John Dagys

The FIA has implemented additional rain lights for prototypes in the wake of Kazuki Nakajima’s visibility-induced accident in practice for the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month.

Beginning at next weekend’s Le Mans Test Day, two additional rain lights will become mandatory for all LMP1 and LMP2 cars, with the frequency and the intensity of the lights also being tweaked.

According to a technical bulletin issued to competitors this week, all rain lights should now have an intensity of 4Hz, with the lights flashing every 0.125 seconds.

Nakajima suffered a fractured vertebra after his Toyota TS040 Hybrid slammed into the rear of the No. 8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at the end of the high-speed Kemmel Straight in the wet.

Toyota Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon blamed lack of visibility and rain lights for the reason for the accident.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John