May 26, 2015

WRC leaves injured driver stranded for over three hours. Unacceptable.


There is no excuse, in 2015, during an FIA sanctioned major motorsport event, for an injured driver to wait three hours and twenty minutes for medical attention, none.

Flickr Photo
Lorenzo Bertelli  may be the scion of one of the worlds largest fashion fortunes, Prada but he's mostly interested in hooning rally cars.  

His team, Fnckmatiè ( the U is upside down), after moving through the junior ranks  is competing in the full WRC  with a Ford Fiesta this season.  
This past week end he was competing in Portugal, the 5th leg of the Championship.


It's the nature of rallies that medical intervention will take longer than on circuits so cars are equipped with electronic signaling devices that can be used to either confirm no serious injury or request immediate medical attention.  

Bertelli and his co driver Bernacchini crashed  just 5 km from the start of the 37 km SS10.  After initially feeling ok, Bertelli developed symptoms of a head injury after a few minutes and his crew mate called for help.


The WRC, organizers in Portugal and the FIA should be shamed into an explanation as to why it took  almost three and half hours to give an injured driver medical attention.

Perhaps Monsieur Todt is too busy jetting around promoting  seatbelt use in Nepal to pay attention?

After he reached the hospital, Bertelli was kept under observation and subsequent exams were negative for major injuries.  He promises to be back for Rally Italy.

Read Fnckmatie World Rally Team's statement for yourself.






10 comments:

  1. Wow. That's disturbing. At least with circuit racing, cameras and spectators can observe the response (or lack thereof) of emergency personnel, otherwise the response times might still be 'we'll extricate the body after all the petrol burns off'. Watching some of those incidents at Indy and crapcar over the years, we get upset if it takes the fire crew more than 30 seconds to respond - but at least TPTB over at Nascar realize the fallout from millions of people watching a driver get terribly injured without the appearance of emergency crews making some effort will be very bad for business.


    Too bad the FIA is so comically inept at regulating and monitoring the motorsports we love. It's almost a shame they don't have to bribe people to bring the races (haha) or we might see Jean Todt in some swiss jail soon. At the very least, one hopes the minders over at the FIA (you know, the lackeys who actually get things done - JT and the rest of the top folks aren't really responsible for the actual operations of the FIA) are paying attention. Something needs to change, clearly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helo mate, I really love out blog, but in this case you should search for all the facts and not only base your opinion in a "Prada" Rally team press release.
    Bertelli had a medical team with him 3 min after the help call, and the emergency procedure wal not deploid imidiatly because de Medical team didn't think it was a that bad of an injury, and it was confirmed later that it wasn't. If there is a Rally that is well prepare for all the situation it's the Rally de Portugal.
    And I give you an exemple, when stage was rolling on thursday, there was a big fire in the region of stage 2 and 5, that was going to hapen friday, the firemans work all night and the fire was over for the stages to happen, during stage 5 the "0" car starded to burn, and the forest stared to burn again, so the firemen had to fight it again, and it eas over after 1 hour, so as you can see "My" rally is well prepared for waht ever it takes.
    Bertelli is just another spoilled rich kid that can't take the pressure.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  3. The fact that you've gathered sixty years of experience into this six hour seminar about tires is really incredible. I'm still a young driver, so I don't think I know everything I could or should know about car care and safe driving. The idea I am getting from your article is that car care starts with the tires. If tire care was the hardest concept of car care, I'd be set.

    http://www.tyrebusters.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sorry for the late reply. OK, first, please don't take this personally but here are some facts: Before the rally there had been suspected arson fires along the course. During the stage Firefighters were not able to extinguish not one but two cars, the 00 car you mention and the Evans' Fiesta which burned without any course workers coming to help.

    As for Bertelli, setting aside any suggestion that his family 's circumstances somehow make him a whiner for calling for help after a collision where he hit his head on the roll cage (which was bent). He was attended to not by an official of the rally but by a spectator who identified himself as a paramedic. Rally organizers overruled the racers on the word of a spectator in order not to delay the rest of the race.

    There is no excuse for that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm not saying that the procedure is 100 % correct, but it's not a bad as it as been described. As for the spectator who claims to be a medic (and not paramedic), by the Portuguese laws, he is authorized to practice even if off duty, with authorization from the emergency leader in charge.
    And I don't wan't to be a pain in the..., I just don't like to see my country wrongly accused.

    Cheers mate and keep up with this awesome blog.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I certainly have no intention of disparaging the country of Portugal! But, c'mon, that person could have been trained as a podiatrist for all you know. Considering the recent history of head injuries in motorsport lately, you really think taking a chance on something as a phoned in field diagnosis by someone most likely unqualified for it is worth the risk? The accident was just 5 km up from the start, recovery would have literally taken a few minutes.

    ReplyDelete
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