Wednesday, 14th May 2008

Turkish circuit admits – 'We did what we could'.

Officials from the Istanbul circuit have defended the venues safety measures following the incident during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend that saw a stray dog hit during the second GP2 race.

Bruno Senna was lucky to escape injury when he found one of two stray dogs to get onto the circuit in his path during the race, with the resulting contact forcing him into retirement with suspension damage to his iSport car.

“I was following Mike Conway quite closely when he suddenly moved to the right,” the Brazilian said. “I thought he had a problem, so I went to the left... and that's when I saw the dog for the first time. It ran right, so I went left, but then it turned again, hit my wheel and that was that. I couldn't believe it.”

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With FIA race director Charlie Whiting admitting that he would be sending a report to motorsport's governing body into the incident, the FIA confirmed on Tuesday that it would be launching an enquiry into what occurred during the sprint race.

However, the circuit admitted that it had done everything it could to prevent the incident happening although it also said that the problem of stray dogs in the vicinity wasn't one that will go away.

"We take very seriously the matter of track safety, we took all possible measures to manage the problem and we cooperated with the FIA race director throughout the grand prix," the circuit told Reuters. "We regret the incident involving Bruno Senna's car and we are far from complacent about it but, with the best will in the world, it isn't possible to eradicate the problem altogether.

"Unfortunately they [the stray dogs] are more noticeably prevalent at the circuit during the grand prix week, attracted we think by the various catering units that competitors bring with them.

"As in past years, the circuit operator took as many precautions as possible to police the 2,500,000 sqm circuit and its 8km perimeter with a team of vets on site to catch any dogs and to relocate them.

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