It’s only Monday, which is much too soon for sad news. Unfortunately, that’s what we have to share today from the world of World Rallycross, as Special One Racing — the team that campaigned a pair of fully-electric Lancia Delta Evo-e machines, one of which was driven by Sébastien Loeb — has announced that both of its chassis went up in smoke during a fire at the Lydden Hill circuit in England on Friday.
First off, nobody was harmed in the blaze which engulfed not only both vehicles but also Special One’s truck and entire service area. That’s a relief, especially when you take in the state of the scene:
Special One posted the following statement to its website. In it, the team said that the fire began after Loeb’s car had been recharging for a few minutes, and fortunately not while it was undergoing active repair:
On Friday 21 July, just before 8.45am, a fire broke out in the number 9 car normally driven by Sébastien Loeb. The fire quickly spread to Guerlain Chicherit’s number 36 car and then to one of the team’s two workshop trucks. None of the three vehicles could be saved from the flames despite the intervention of the fire brigade. The scene was quickly evacuated, and no-one was injured.
An investigation has been launched by the FIA to determine the origin of the fire, which broke out while no-one was physically working on the car, but during the electrical recharging of the propulsion system, which had been underway for several minutes. At this stage, we can already state that no handling errors were made by the staff of the Special ONE Racing team, nor by those of its partners.