Saturday, May 10, 2008

Valsecchi begins recovery from crash

GP2 Series racer Davide Valsecchi remains in an Istanbul hospital following his estimated 100mph impact with the tyre wall in qualifying yesterday.

The Italian crashed at Turn 12 after suffering a loss of brake efficiency. He has spoken about his crash with GP2 technical director Didier Perrin, who is understandably keen to trace the cause of the issue.

Perrin has told autosport.com that Valsecchi's braking was normal to begin with, but that the brakes then gradually lost efficiency, causing the crash. He has inspected the wreckage, but admits that damage incurred in the impact has made tracing the problem much more difficult.

Perrin is pleased, however, with how the GP2/08 chassis stood up to the high-speed impact, and reports that all the safety systems, including the tyre wall at the track, performed admirably.

Valsecchi's condition continues to be monitored in hospital. He suffered a minor concussion in the impact, and is also being evaluated for a spinal injury that is likely to keep him out of the cockpit for an unspecified number of weeks.

Following a report that FIA medics were unable to extricate Valsecchi as quickly as they'd like, due to an issue with his crotch strap getting wedged between the foam seat and the chassis, a technical bulletin has been issued for teams to ensure that the cut-outs the crotch strap runs through are improved.



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