Photo: WTCR

Gabriele Tarquini injured after “dangerous manoeuvre” in Germany

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BRC Racing Team driver Gabriele Tarquini has said he hopes he’ll be ready to race next weekend after a hard hit in Race 2 at the Nürburgring, brandishing the pass by WRT’s Gordon Shedden as “a very dangerous manoeuvre”.

Tarquini was knocked into the barriers when both his Hyundai and Shedden’s Audi made contact on the first lap, with Tarquini’s car ripping off its left side tyres and taking no further part in the day’s activity.

With two DNFs from the weekend and a DNS for Race 3, Tarquini scores no points over the whole weekend and loses the lead of the championship to the rival Hyundai of Yvan Muller.

“It was a hard race, and my crash was quite heavy,” said Tarquini to TouringCarTimes.

“The difference between Audi and the rest of the field in top speed is amazing. (Shedden) was pushing me on the straights, but at this place there’s just one line. We were doing 240-250km/h and to me there was not space for two cars, so I think it was a very dangerous manoeuvre.

“At this kind of place there are no second or third gear corners where you can just touch another car, so as soon as he touched me, I just lost control and I went into the barrier.

“I hope they have the time to repair the car, and also for me to be ready for the next event, as at the moment I have a lot of pain. I was in the medical centre for an hour, and I need an X-ray check when I’m back home.”