The WRC Rally Japan Stewards have fined the rally organisers €150,000 (of which €100,000 suspended) for an incident where a van entered stage 12 while it was live.
The incident happened in stage 12 of Saturday at Rally Japan. A Nissan van had entered the stage and drove in the opposite direction to the start of the stage, blocking the road. The stage was then stopped immediately.
The Stewards’ investigation has been completed and revealed that the driver of the van had breached two ”checkpoints” before entering the stage while it was running.
The van entered the stage 520 meters from the start at Marshal Post 5 and then drove in the opposite direction of the stage. Before entering the stage at Post 5, which was secured by tape without physical barriers or such, the driver had breached two checkpoints which were surveyed by Security Guards.
Communication errors
“The vehicle had previously breached two check points surveyed by Security Guards. Once in front of Marshal post 5, the car broke the restriction at that post 5 (520 m after the Start of SS12). The car continued driving 520 m in the opposite direction of the Stage before stopping in front of Car No. 33 [Evans] at the start of the Stage. The car’s driver did not follow the marshals’ instructions, refusing to move his vehicle out of the way and therefore the Police were called. The Police arrived at approximately 11:00 hrs and took the driver away.”
Communication errors were found, as explained by the Stewards: “Neither the Security Guards nor the Marshal at post 5 informed the officials at Rally Control. The Stewards heard from Mr. Akira Toda, the Police and Gov’t Liaison Officer, who confirmed that unfortunately the two check points surveyed by the Security Guards were assigned to two different companies and there was no communication between them. Therefore, the first opportunity to contact Rally Control was at Marshal Post 5, approximately 2 km after the driver breached the first check point.”
The Marshal at Post 5 did inform the Start Control about the van, but Start Control didn’t inform Rally Control immediately: “The Deputy Clerk of the Course also informed the Stewards that unfortunately the Marshals through SS12 only had an internal radio network. The Marshal at post 5 informed the Start control but the person in charge at the Start did not inform the Rally Control immediately.”
The delay of communication meant that Elfyn Evans’ co-driver Scott Martin was the first who made Rally Control aware, via the Toyota team, that the van had entered the stage: “At that moment car No. 33 was at the Start of SS12 and when the unknown car appeared in front of the crew, the Co-driver immediately called his team, who informed the FIA Sporting Delegate at Rally Control. This was the first communication to Rally Control of the incident.
“The SS12 was then immediately stopped.
“The Clerk of the Course agreed with the Stewards that the incident occurred was serious and the lack of communications could have contributed to a serious accident.”
The Stewards had required the Clerk of the Course to implement a contingency plan “to ensure the safe running of the remainder of the Rally.”
This contingency plan ensured “that each accessible junction had a physical barrier of either a motor vehicle or water-filled blocks.”
The Stewards informed that the rally could’ve been stopped entirely if the plan wasn’t implemented immediately or breached at any time: “The Stewards informed the Clerk of the Course that under the authority provided to them by Article 11.9.3.r of the 2024 FIA International Sporting Code, they would immediately and permanently stop the Competition should the contingency plan be compromised or breached or should there be any deviation from the contingency plan agreed with the FIA Safety Delegate.”
“The remaining special stages on public roads of Saturday ran without further incidents,” the report confirmed.
Further stressed that “it would be expected that these measures should have been put in place as part of the event Safety Plan.”
Stewards: ‘Issue cannot be considered as an isolated occurrence.’
The Stewards also highlighted (communication) issues from earlier editions of the event, saying: “This issue cannot be considered as an isolated occurrence as in 2022 there was a similar case where a vehicle had entered a special stage from an un- marshalled junction where the taping was missing and in 2023 there was a similar case of lack of communication between the Zero Car and Rally Control, resulting in the first competition car on the stage coming across the Zero Car parked in the middle of the stage.
“The Stewards concluded that the Organisers were in breach of Art. 12.2.1.h of the 2024 FIA International Sporting Code and in view of the severity of the offence a fine was imposed on the Organisers.
“An additional fine was imposed on the Organisers with suspension of sentence in order to encourage the continuous improvement on marshals training with a specific focus on safety.”
€150k fine, €100k suspended
The organisers were fined up to €150,000 for the “Failure to take reasonable measures, thus resulting in an unsafe situation (2024 FIA International Sporting Code Article 12.2.1.h).”
€100,000 of the €150,000 is suspended. Two conditions must not be violated in order to keep the suspended fine suspended.
The first condition is regarding Marshal training: “the Organiser must conduct a full marshals’ training with specific modules on road surveillance and communications in cooperation with a dedicated FIA Task Force, the FIA Safety Department and the ASN Japan Automobile Federation before the next WRC Rally Japan 2025.”
The second condition is that the same article (12.2.1.h of the FIA ISC or comparable if changed) can’t be breached in next year’s edition of Rally Japan: “No further breaches by the Organiser of Art. 12.2.1.h) of the 2024 FIA International Sporting Code in the next WRC Rally Japan 2025 (or the comparable Article in future editions of the FIA International Sporting Code if changed).”
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
