FIA WRC safety delegate Nicolas Klinger has issued a stark warning to spectators following what he described as ‘crazy’ scenes at last week’s Monte Carlo Rally.
While no stages were cancelled at last week’s WRC season opener, two were red-flagged due to the behavior of fans once the competition began. That behavior, Klinger fears, could seriously harm the sport.
Klinger told DirtFish: “The spectators must understand, we are no more in the ’80s when we had spectators running alongside cars trying to wave their flags or say hello from 10 centimeters away. The driver isn’t watching them, they don’t care.
“The frustration is that it is such a small percentage of the spectators. I would say 95% are doing exactly what we ask for them. They are staying safe and they are staying inside the spectator area.
“We cannot blame the organizer because they did a good job in creating the spectator areas and making the place safe – but some of these people just decide they want to do what they want to do.
Flares and fireworks exacerbated fog on night stage
“We can see it when we see one spectator decide to leave, they walk to the road. Then some people are thinking: ‘If it’s OK for him to walk on the road, then I go too.’
“Then we have two people, then three, then four… I want to ask these people: ‘If you were in a Formula 1 race and you wanted to leave, would you walk across the track?’ No! Of course they wouldn’t. This is the same thing.”
Klinger pointed out it was the spectators who caused the event’s third stage to be red-flagged.
“We could see the fog coming,” said Klinger, “but then with the flares and the fireworks, it was getting worse. You could see from the [onboard cameras], the spectators were coming closer and closer to the side of the road. You could see their lights getting brighter as the car went by. This stage was stopped because of the danger of the spectators.
“Imagine if one car went five or 10 meters wide – they would hit all of these people. For me, these spectators are showing a lack of respect to what we are trying to do and to the organizers of the rally and to the police. This lack of respect, they must understand, it can ruin our sport.
Klinger says too many spectators are "over-confident"
“I understand the passion of the spectators, that they want to see the speed from the cars and sometimes they feel they are too far away, but look what happened to [Oliver] Solberg [when he went into a field on SS12] look where a car can go. The spectators are over-confident.
“Like I say, the big positive is that the big majority of fans are doing everything right, but this small group of people can ruin everything for us. They must stop.”
The drivers were quick to back Klinger’s call for action, with Monte Carlo runner-up Elfyn Evans saying: “Where they were stood yesterday [Saturday] in some places was really bad. But like not a bit bad, just completely brain dead, missing common sense. It’s probably a handful of people that are just not using their head.
“If you’re coming to a second-gear right-hander, downhill and it’s full ice and slush and you see cars have been off already and they’re stood five meters back… you know?
“Yes, we need [the FIA and ASNs] to do more, but there’s only so much anybody can do – it has come down to the intelligence of the individual.”
DirtFish has contacted the Automobile Club de Monaco for comment.
