Both SUNRED’s Fredy Barth and Polestar’s Robert Dahlgren will miss the World Touring Car Championship races in Macau on Sunday after they suffered heavy accidents in practice and qualifying respectively.
In the second free practice session on Friday Swiss racer Barth had a heavy accident in the twisty section of the track and had to be rescued from his car. His Sunred León had caught fire as a result of the impact and Barth was taken to hospital suffering from concussion and smoke inhalation.
Barth, who was unconscious, was extracted from the vehicle but not before there were delays in extracting him as his car burned. Marshalls took valuable seconds to reach the car and had difficulty removing the safety window net to get him out.
The 31 year-old is suffering from contusion and concussion and will spend the night in hospital on Friday and Saturday.
Dahlgren will also not take part in the Guia race on Sunday after he had his own accident in the second part of qualifying. The Swede made a mistake on his second lap and went head on into the barriers. Unlike Barth, however, he was able to escape his car immediately and vault the barriers to safety.
However Dahlgren will not race as he has suffered a fractured thumb and pain in his hand. Additionally the Volvo driver’s car was badly damaged in the incident, meaning his team would have had a significant challenge ahead of them to ready it for Sunday’s races.
Therefore Dahlgren finishes his first full season in the WTCC on a low note – his best result having been a single fourth placed finish in Germany.
The Marshall’s were particularly slow to attend to Barth’s car – a rare delay for the suaually very good Macau marshalls.