Russell Ingall ‘kicked in the guts’ by Bathurst crash

The BMW Team SRM driver hit the wall at The Dipper right on the six-hour mark, taking the M6 out of the race on the spot.

Up until that point the #7 car was BMW’s best chance of a result, Ingall, Timo Glock, Mark Skaife, and Tony Longhurst running just a lap off the leaders.

“It is a real disappointment to finish like this – but it is just a typical Bathurst deal,” said Ingall.

“When this place kicks you in the guts, it kicks you pretty good.”

“I just came up behind another car – we actually had a reasonable pace going – and basically I just tagged the wall on the inside just before The Dipper. I was right up behind the other car and lost track of how much real estate I had on the inside.

“I was trying to line him up for The Elbow, but that is life – just a simple mistake. Hitting the inside wall must have broke the steering, which fired it into the outside wall.

“That was it, lights out.”

Six-time Bathurst 1000 winner Skaife empathised with Ingall, noting that the mistake is an easy one to make.

“I really feel sorry for Russell, it was just a very slight mistake which is an easy one to make in that part of the track, the car sliding down through The Esses and bumping the fence on the inside,” he said.

“It could happen to any of us, in fact I’ve done it before myself so it is just one of those things that happen when you are pressing on.

“I feel really sorry for Tony and for everyone involved because it’s been a hell of a ride. We genuinely could have won this race.”