Attila Tassi and Santiago Urrutia, two of the young guns in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR), came to blows in a race-ending crash during the Nürburgring opener earlier today.
The Honda and Lynk & Co drivers had been battling for sixth on the final lap of the race when contact put them both out on the third lap of the Nordschleife.
As far as Münnich Motorsport’s Attila Tassi is concerned his Cyan Racing counterparts were to blame for multiple collisions during the race.
“We had good pace in the beginning but then I made a small mistake,” he began. “Yann [Ehrlacher] overtook me and later on I had a go around the outside of him.
“I know that he could see me because I could see his face, and then I think he just didn’t want the overtake to happen and so he got on the power with understeer and pushed me off completely.
“I lost a lot of seconds there, so after that I was pushing to recover and started to make small and also bigger mistakes. I was backing up a little bit to not make any mistakes and then [Santiago] Urrutia throws the car next to me and I have a big impact on the left side.
“I hit the wall on the right side so it felt like I was a ping-pong ball and you can see the impact was quite big. My front left wheel is in pieces, the brake disc is in pieces, so there’s not much left on the front-left [of the car].
“But I hope the guys can do a great job [to get the car fixed] and tomorrow we will go for the podium!”
Urrutia, meanwhile, felt sorry for the incident, appearing to accept responsibility for their collision. However, Urrutia’s account of the crash suggests that there might have been a mechanical failure to blame as well.
“The race was going very well, and I think when I passed Bebu [Girolami] he pushed me a little hard,” Urrutia explained. “Then I got a puncture on the rear so I lost the car and I hit Tassi so I feel very bad for him.
“We were doing a very good race, but I think I got a puncture but I don’t know because it was strange. I just started to turn and then I lost the car, but it is what it is.”
Urrutia also ended up with a damaged car, so like Tassi will be hoping that his team can mend it in time for the early start tomorrow.
Race two begins at 09:00 BST (10:00 CEST).