An extraordinary eight-car crash has brought the second last race of the Formula E championship to a halt in Seoul on Saturday.
The chaos occurred on the opening lap of the Seoul E-Prix as the field went into the last corner, led by Jaguar driver Norman Nato.
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After Nato came Sebastiaen Beumi, who was then followed by Nick Cassidy, Dan Ticktum, Oliver Askew, Andre Lotterer, Nyck De Vries and Oliver Turvey.
Nato and Cassidy were the only drivers able to continue their race after they managed to remove themselves for the messy pileup.
The race was red flagged but motorsport fans couldn’t believe their eyes as a car became perched on top of the Mercedes of De Vries, who was protected by the halo.
“A couple of big hits at the back,” the commentator said.
“Everyone piles into the back, a really weird accident that. Very strange incident there.”
Motorsport writer Hazel Southwell tweeted: “Buemi, Askew, Lotterer, Ticktum, Turvey, Cassidy, Nato and De Vries in the wall. Buemi also on the Mercedes. simply incredible Formula E stuff (red flag, they all seem to be OK, just no one seemed to be able to brake).”
Several of the cars had to be taken away on the back of trucks, much to the amusement of viewers.
Nato said the slippery surface on the wide part of the track, which weaves through Seoul’s Olympic Stadium, was his undoing.
“In the middle of the pack the visibility in the last sector was quite poor,” said Nato, who was able to restart the race.
“One guy in front of me, I don’t even know who he was to be honest because I couldn’t really see, he was really cautious and braked.
“The two cars in front of me, they tried to avoid him and when I arrived I got a bit surprised and I had to avoid, going on the left-hand side of the apex.
“The tarmac is really different at this part and that’s why we saw so many cars (in the wall) because so many people tried to do the same to avoid the inside because of one car.
“On the outside, you have no chance to turn. Six cars or seven cars out in one corner is not what we expected.”
Lotterer added: “Basically, it was super slippery out there.
“Same, like the other guys, just touched the brakes and it was just like ice. Nothing you can do from that point on.
“I don’t think it’s braking too late, it was where there was paint, maybe some cars just happened to be on those patches of paint and lock up and that’s it.
“I managed to find a little gap and not hit another car but I still hit it, but not full on.”
The race restarted with Mitch Evans in the lead, who went on to claim victory in the penultimate race of the season ahead of Oliver Rowland and Lucas di Grassi.
It means the championship battle will go down to the last race of the season as Evans attempts to chase down Stoffel Vandoorne.
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