IRWIN Racing’s Alan Gurr has been cleared of any serious injury following a heavy accident at the sixth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Hidden Valley outside Darwin.
Gurr crashed into a tyre wall after colliding with Fabian Coulthard in the final race of the weekend.
Importantly Gurr was able to walk away from the incident. The IRWIN Racing Falcon suffered extensive panel damage and the crew will not know the full extent until it returns to the team’s Melbourne base in a few days time.
Gurr had performed strongly in the races after qualifying 30th. He finished 23rd in the opening race, followed by 18th in the second race. He had just made his pit stop in the final race and was hit from behind while battling for 17th position.
“I’m OK, but the car looks very second-hand, ” said Gurr.
“It occurred just after I stopped and my tyres were still cold. Due to the cold tyres I had to brake early and Fabian got into the back of me and speared the car into the barrier. It was a very big hit and I’m thankful for all the safety features we run in our car.
“Obviously I’m thankful for being OK as that’s the most important thing, but I’m disappointed not to have finished off that final race as we could have been looking at a top-15 result and valuable championship points.
“The car was very good in the races. Our improvement throughout was proof of that.
“It’s been a challenging season and it would have been nice to come away with some points and for that matter a straight car. We have neither. “
Officials looked at the incident after the race and declared it a ‘racing incident’ due to the fact that Gurr still had cold tyres.
Lead Engineer Greg Foletta knew the impact was a big one.
“As a rally co-driver I’ve had my fair share of big hits and I know Alan will feel a little sore tomorrow, ” said Foletta.
“The car has taken a big hit and from what we can gather right now it’s quite a bit of work. We will get a full assessment on the car once we are back in Melbourne.
“The car was great in the races. We just didn’t get the most out of it in qualifying. We really had been improving the car throughout the weekend and we were quite confident of a top-15 result in that final race.
“Now we’ll have to chase that result in Queensland next month. “
The seventh round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series will be run on 20-22 July at Queensland Raceway.
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