ALMS Baltimore race red-flagged after multi-car pileup at start (VIDEO)
By Tony DiZinnoAug 31, 2013, 4:24 PM EDT
The American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT has gotten off to an unfortunate start with a massive crash as the cars straddled the Pratt Street chicane, but did not actually go through the chicane, headed for the green flag.
A slow start from the two P1 class cars – with Dyson Racing getting an apparent jump on polesitting Muscle Milk Pickett Racing – backed the field up and triggered an almost immediate chain reaction, accordion effect accident.
Behind them, Scott Tucker, driving the No. 551 Level 5 Motorsports HPD ARX-03b P2 class car, appeared to clip the first and third tire barriers at the first and third apex of the chicane. Anthony Lazzaro, in the No. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD, hit Tucker and spun him into the concrete wall on the inside.
"It's an unfortunate situation, as I'm still not sure exactly what happened other than I got hit from behind and spun into the wall," Tucker said. "Then there were 3 or 4 GT cars that were coming straight me right there. I knew it was going to be a big hit. At a higher speed it could have been even more serious."
Things got worse as the GT field piled into Tucker, with absolutely nowhere to go. GT cars involved included all three Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, the No. 17 from Team Falken Tire, No. 48 from Paul Miller Racing and No. 06 from CORE autosport, and two others, the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 Italia and No. 93 SRT Motorsports SRT Viper GTS-R.
Car No. 18 from Performance Tech Motorsports was also involved, and the GTC field of spec Porsche GT3 Cup cars all stopped in avoidance.
All drivers: Tucker, Wolf Henzler (No. 17), Bryce Miller (No. 48), Olivier Beretta (No. 62), Kuno Wittmer (No. 93) and Tom Kimber-Smith (No. 06) have been checked, cleared and released without injury.
The race itself was immediately red flagged. The two-hour race distance will be shortened, as per ALMS, the race will have to end at 6:15 p.m. ET local time.