For Kelvin van der Linde and Clemens Schmid, the WEC race weekend in Sao Paulo ended prematurely after the first free practice session on Friday afternoon. Arnold Robin, teammate of the two DTM drivers in the #78 Akkodis-Lexus RC F GT3, had such a serious accident during the session that the team had to withdraw the car from the competition.
According to the team, the 39-year-old bronze rider was taken to hospital by helicopter after the impact “to be thoroughly checked. He is OK, conscious and has not suffered any serious injuries.” Robin returned to the track after being examined in hospital.
Kelvin van der Linde: “Very short race weekend in Brazil”
“That was a very short race weekend in Brazil,” wrote van der Linde on his Instagram page. “Unfortunately, my teammate had a very big accident in the 1st practice session. The car suffered a lot of damage that cannot be repaired. The most important thing is that he is OK and did not suffer any serious injury.”
A similar Statement published Schmid, who was denied his second WEC appearance this year. The Austrian made his debut in Spa and followed in Sao Paulo the original regular driver Timur Boguslavskiy, who had left the team for reasons unknown to the public. For the DTM duo, who were still in action at the Norisring last weekend, Brazil was not worth the trip this time.
No pictures of Arnold Robin’s Lexus accident
There are no official recordings of Robin’s accident because the WEC free practice sessions are not broadcast. However, the impact was so severe that race director Eduardo Freitas immediately interrupted the session with red flags. After a mandatory break of 24 minutes, race management decided to end the training early with 20 minutes remaining. First, the guard rails had to be fixed. The lost track time was added to the second practice session on Friday afternoon local time.
Training on Friday morning began on a wet track after a previous heavy rain shower. During the session, the Brazilian circuit, which is hosting the WEC for the first time since 2014, continued to dry out and allowed laps to be completed on slick tires. Robin had an accident halfway through the session, around 45 minutes into the session.
After the withdrawal, Akkodis-Lexus only has the car with the starting number #88 (Kimura, Masson, Lopez) at the start in the new LMGT3 class. The fifth race of the 2024 World Endurance Championship season and the first race after the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place in Sao Paulo on Sunday (start at 4:30 p.m. German time, live on Sport1 and Eurosport 2).