Heroic WEC Driver Drags Half Naked Toyota Back To The Pits
When a car has been completely destroyed and almost stripped naked in a monstrous shunt, you expect the driver to retire on the spot. But not in the FIA World Endurance Championship, a series known for its heroics, crazy turnarounds and determined teams.
The No.7 Toyota TS050 had a troubled 6 Hours of Silverstone with numerous problems and setbacks, but the biggest came close to the halfway mark when Jose Maria Lopez had a huge crash at Copse.
He went straight on and slammed into the wall, but despite his racing machine being half destroyed (it no longer resembled an LMP1 car), Lopez managed to crawl his car back to the pits.
It was miraculously repaired before the chequered flag and looked good as new, reaching the race finish – albeit 38 laps down. A bizarre moment and incredible story from the 6 Hours of Silverstone.
The No.8 Toyota won from the No.2 Porsche. The No.38 Jackie Chan car (yes, really) triumphed in LMP2, with the No.67 Ford and No.61 Ferrari winning in GTE Pro and Am respectively.
What was your favourite moment from the race? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
Lopez is argentinean. In Argentina we have a phrase “Lo atamos con alambre”. That means “Tide up with wire”, what means: beside your car is half destroyed, don’t give up and keep going. That’s the spirit!
wish i had that dedication in school.
The mechanics didn’t want to work overtime so they fixed it during the race. 😂
I’m surprised he wasn’t disqualified (or at least got a penalty) for driving down the track not only very slowly, but also in a car that could loose shards of glass, debris and fluids which could cause problems for other drivers.
Terrible picture but was walking past Copse as it happened. Big dust cloud and everyone starts running!
Pechito lopez great driver from my beautiful Argentina
Also he went to hospital afterwards.
See when humans have fights with walls and slowly make our way back with half our clothes, we get arrested. Cars should have no excuse.
I clicked on this thinking the driver would be half naked
weight reduction