NEWS

WRC quartet awarded 'Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally' for Rally Japan

A quartet of WRC competitors have been awarded the Abu Dhabi ‘Spirit of the Rally’ for Rally Japan after their initiative and collaboration with event organisers ensured a swift response to Stobart VK M-Sport Team driver Francois Duval’s and co-driver Patrick Pivato’s heavy crash during Friday’s stage six.
The ‘Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally’ award acknowledges a positive contribution to the WRC by any of the myriad of parties involved in the sport. And following Duval and Pivato’s accident, the unselfish actions of a collection of WRC crews has seen them jointly awarded the ‘Spirit’ trophy.
Running third at the time, Duval was the eighth driver to tackle the 11km Yuparo run. Disaster struck when, exactly five kilometres from the stage start line, Duval crashed sideways into a barrier, with most of the impact concentrated on Pivato’s side of the car. The stage was immediately stopped to allow emergency services to attend the scene.
However, several drivers had already begun the stage, including Duval and Pivato’s Stobart team-mate, Matthew Wilson. Upon coming across his stricken team-mates, Wilson quickly and efficiently communicated the seriousness of the situation to team headquarters.
“As we were the first people on the scene I saw Francois waving us down and we immediately got out to assist. When we saw Patrick was trapped in the car I just got straight on the radio to the team who contacted rally control and within minutes help arrived. Then we just did whatever we could to help,” said Wilson.
The next cars on the scene belonged to Toshi Arai and Fumio Nutahara. The pair used their bilingual and leadership skills to assist Rally Japan’s extraction crews in their efforts to release Pivato, who - it emerged later - had fractured his pelvis and leg in the incident.
“When the towing truck arrived none of the staff could speak English so Nutahara and I helped with translation,” explained Arai. “Then we helped the medical staff when they were trying to get Pivato out of the car as they were also all Japanese. Luckily we were all in the stage so we were very near already.”
With more cars arriving on the scene by the minute, co-driver Denis Giraudet unselfishly abandoned his driver to comfort a distressed Pivato on the ambulance and helicopter journeys to hospital. Giraudet remained with his friend until he was taken to surgery and then returned to the hospital to maintain a vigil until 3am on Saturday morning. “It was a difficult situation. Nobody spoke French or English, Francois Duval was in shock and Patrick couldn’t describe his condition and where he had pain,” explained Giraudet.
“What really amazed me was how people from all aspects of the WRC wanted to do help - teams, organisers, ISC, media, everyone. Many gave blood (because Pivato’s blood type is very uncommon in Japan) and showed their support by being with us at the hospital and afterwards.
”Everyone agreed that I should stay with Patrick when he went to hospital, even my driver [Eyvind Brynildsen]. I have so much admiration for paramedics and doctors - they help people; we are just entertainers. I spent time at the hospital and helped to pass the news on to Patrick’s wife, who also doesn’t speak English,” added Giraudet.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Kunihiro Tabata, praised the work of the four competitors and the Clerk of Course, Ryuji Makita, and his team on the manner and speed of the intervention and extraction. “This shows the true spirit of rallying and the strength of the WRC ‘family’ where in difficult and very stressful conditions everyone works as a team in the common interest of safety.”