Red Bull Rally Team's Bernardo Sousa has withdrawn from day two of the Rally of Turkey, following the accident in SS10, which left a spectator injured.
Contrary to initial reports, it now seems Sousa's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX did
not hit the spectator that was injured. Indeed the incident occurred when Sousa's car hit a stone and sent it flying though the air and into a cordoned-off area, where it struck the leg of the unlucky fan.
"200 metres after the start of the stage I drove over a stone that flew and hit a spectator," confirmed the youngster. "As I saw the fan go to ground I stopped immediately to check what had happened.
"It was a real shock for me which left me feeling really sick. After talking with the team I decided to quit the rally as there would have been no point driving further in my condition."
Red Bull Rally Team boss Raimund Baumschlager was fully supportive of his drivers' decision to stop running.
"The Bernardo incident is really unfortunate of course. He is still a really young driver who has gone straight into the rally circus. He hasn't experienced anything like that before so his conduct is understandable, he was just showing compassion," added Baumschlager.
"By grinding to a halt he blocked the track and forced the organisers to abandon the stage."
Andreas Aigner meanwhile continues to lead the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category in the sister car. Andreas increased his lead to 6.1 seconds in SS10, before hitting a rock in the next test, something that allowed Patrik Sandell to cut the margin to just 0.7 seconds.
"The first stage went really smoothly as you can tell from the fact I was the quickest. During SS11 I hit a stone that lay in the middle of the track and damaged the steering link. I lost time as a result but fortunately we now have a long service break and everything can be repaired," stated the Austrian, who has won the last two PWRC events.
