Help me understand why IMSA didn't...

[Heel n Toe]

...throw a caution when one of the Aston Martins died about 10-15 mins. before the finish of today's race at Lime Rock and the driver parked it fairly close to the track:





I'm glad the end of the race wasn't marred by a caution and it was great not having one, but this seemed a little sketchy to me. And it looked much more dangerous when viewed at speed than in these stills.

The only thing I can come up with is that it was on the inside of the turn, so possibly their thinking was that 1) drivers had noted the position of the car and would be more careful in that area and 2) if there was a shunt there, the cars involved would probably crash to the left.

BTW, in case you didn't know, Porsche got 1st and 2nd:
https://www.motorsport.com/imsa/news/porsche-lime-rock-imsa-win-933662/

[astrochex]

Thats pretty much what I was thinking too, the location of the car was not deemed a hazard.

[stomachmonkey]

Seems far enough off the course to me.

[cstreit]

Once the driver is out of the car - it's no longer really a hazard - just a stationary object much like a guardrail or Danica Patrick.

[Salty Springs]

^^^^ Very funny

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Once the driver is out of the car - it's no longer really a hazard - just a stationary object much like a guardrail...

Just imagine slamming into the back of it going about 100-120. That's my best guess as to the speed of the cars at that spot on the track.

A guard rail is parallel to the racing surface, and cars/drivers take incredible blows when in a shunt and getting booted to the inside of a turn.