SUPER FORMULA’S season finale weekend came to an abrupt halt after a horror crash that sent a racer to the hospital.
Liam Lawson, who had been racing in Formula One as Daniel Ricciardo’s injury replacement at AlphaTauri, was making his return to the motorsport after his F1 stint.
However, his race ended after just four laps as racers Hiroki Otsu and Ukyo Sasahara were involved in a violent crash.
The race at Suzuka circuit in Japan was red flagged after the two cars smashed in the barrier and damaged the catch fence, which resulted in the decision to not restart the event.
Otsu had attempted to overtake Sasahara at the famous 130R for 17th, but his Nakajima Racing car made contact with Sasahara’s TOM’S, sending both spiralling into the barriers.
Sasahara’s car was also sent hurtling into the catch fencing behind the barriers with the impact tearing off the rear of his car.
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The 27-year-old was taken to hospital after the incident and diagnosed with a concussion.
Autosport report he is being kept in overnight as a precaution and won’t participate in Sunday’s finale.
Further checks will be made on him in Tokyo before a decision is made on his participation in next week’s Super GT season finale.
Replacement driver Otsu, 29, will also miss the Super Formula weekend despite walking away from the crash with only minor bruising because there is insufficient time to repair his car.
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After the crash Otsu said: “In the early laps I passed several cars and it felt like I had the pace to go even further if I continued that way.
“But while I was using the Overtake System I went side-by-side with another car [Sasahara], we made contact and crashed.
“As a replacement driver, my main priority was to return [Naoki] Yamamoto’s car in good condition, so I’m sorry for the team about the damage to the car.
“Even though we didn’t do many laps I hope they were able to take something positive from it.”
Repairs are set to be completed 8pm local time, allowing Sunday’s finale to proceed as planned.
Following the red flag, the race results were rolled back to the end of lap three with half points awarded.
Lawson lost ground in his title bid after finishing P6, with Tomoki Nojiri winning the race as Ritomo Miyata and Kakunoshin Ota completed the podium.
Championship leader Miyata is 15 points ahead of Lawson in the standings.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
