In the recent DTM race at Sachsenring, Nicki Thiim’s title aspirations were cut short after a significant accident with Jules Gounon, a Winward Mercedes driver. Gounon, who was returning to the track after a pit stop, was hit on the front right by Thiim’s Aston Martin car, resulting in an injury to his left wrist.
Gounon remarked that he did not understand how the accident happened: ‘I was driving and suddenly I got hit, it was totally unexpected. The impact was on the steering wheel.’ Ten minutes after the crash, he communicated that he felt pain in his wrist, which led to him receiving treatment with a bandage and a splint to immobilize his hand at the hospital.
This season has been intense for Thiim, who prior to the race had declared his intention to race with all possible risks. ‘Either the car goes home on a trailer, or we get some good points,’ said the son of DTM pioneer Kurt Thiim, while wearing a helmet inscribed with ‘Go hard or go home.’
An accident with unfortunate circumstances
After the accident, Thiim approached Gounon to ask about his condition. ‘Health is always the priority,’ he said. According to Thiim, just before his accident, other drivers such as Luca Engstler and Thierry Vermeulen had also faced difficulties in the same area. ‘It was an unfortunate moment, I didn’t do anything intentionally.’
Thiim explained that he lost grip at the moment of the incident. ‘I noticed that deceleration dropped suddenly, and that always indicates that there is something on the track,’ he argued. His theory is that the accident occurred at a time of general loss of grip in that section of the track, possibly due to illegal substances that may have accumulated, like oil.
The view of other drivers
Engstler, who also experienced issues in the same area, believes that the mix of water and oil makes the track extremely slippery. Vermeulen also confirmed that the first section of the track was very dirty during the race, although he managed to avoid Thiim at a critical moment.
This accident led race stewards to decide not to penalize Thiim, especially given the context of previous incidents that had already occurred in the same area of the track.
After these events, Thiim finds himself in fifth position in the general classification, 50 points behind the leader, Thomas Preining. With only 56 points available to win, he has stated that his title chances are virtually nonexistent and that he will be able to race without pressure in the next event in Hockenheim.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_a51e8561181084f5f680e30db9a7ffe0449feb1d