Frijns “Could See” Wild Finish Coming
Frijns noted that he had observed the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids exiting the pits at the same time with three laps to go, which meant he could anticipate how the LMP2 race would end.
On the final lap, Blomqvist tore into the Dutchman’s lead and was on his tail after exiting the Porsche Curves for the final time. At the Ford Chicane, traffic backed up by the Toyotas’ staged finish caused a wild end to the LMP2 battle.
“I knew exactly what was going to happen: they wanted to have their photo finish,” said Frijns.
“All the guys they overtook didn’t want to overtake back because they didn’t want to do an extra lap. I could see it coming.
“I was there behind them for three or four seconds, struggling for pace and struggling to find every tenth I could find.
“And I saw, heading into the last sector, Blomqvist was already 1.2 seconds behind and people were slowing down. What do you do?
“The P2 out of the last corner slowed down, so I turned right and kissed the car on the right. He didn’t expect it and I’m definitely not blaming him for it.
“The rear was sliding away a bit, and then the next thing I see is the checkered flag man in front of me, so I turned hard left again.”
Frijns narrowly avoided the on-track attendant waving the checkered flag. He later suggested that changes to the race-end procedure should be considered if cars are still battling behind a staged finish.
“I fully support the idea that the checkered flag guy is on the finish line because it’s tradition and it looks good for pictures,” he said.
“I’m not saying it needs to be banned next year. But they need to consider if someone is still fighting for P1 or podium positions behind, to speed up or let them go or whatever.
“But don’t drive 80 km/h over the finish line when you have people fighting behind you.”
No but I get it, they probably don't. That makes me think, is there a rule that you need to build more than 1 though?
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