A competitor of Robert Kubica’s on the Ronde di Andora rally on which the Pole was severely injured has described the ‘horrifying’ scene when he arrived at the crash.
Mauro Moreno, who was next down the stage and a minute behind Kubica, was first to arrive on the scene and told Italian sports paper Gazzetta dello Sport of his emotions.
“It was a horrifying view. I called him [Kubica] by name a couple of times, but he didn’t reply,” he said.
“The steel blade was coming out of the hatchback. His co-driver signalled to me he had no problems so I asked Robert if he was ok too. But that was useless because he was in a state of semi-unconsciousness and he wouldn’t talk.”
Kubica was eventually cut out of the wreckage by a fire crew, but his co-driver Jakub Gerber also told of the delay before the ailing Pole could be rescued.
“The ambulance arrived immediately and then came the firemen. They took over half an hour to pull him out,” said Gerber.
“The first crew didn’t have the shears so they had to wait for another crew. Then the helicopter couldn’t land in that spot, so Robert had to be moved and more time was lost.”
Gerber also hinted that the crash had been down to driver error rather than a mechanical failure.
Asked whether he ascribed the crash to human error, Gerber replied: “In a competition you try to go as quickly as possible. Robert is the type of person that thinks hard, always looks a step ahead, he’s precise, fast and clean. A complete driver.”
