Street racing is typically very tight and just one mistake by any driver can cause a huge pileup. This happened on the first lap at a WTCC sports car race in Vila Real, Portugal.
Teammates Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani started the race in the lead and remained side-by-side on the start, entering the first tight turn. Instead of either driver giving an inch, the two collided and had a rather violent crash, quickly blocking the track and involved every car who started the race.
Only one car actually got through and he had major door damage while everyone else were stopped behind the carnage. This was one of those times where it paid to start further in the back of the pack as they at least had a chance to stop before getting caught up.
The carnage took a while to clean up. In fact, the race was delayed nearly two and a half hours as cars were being repaired and the track was cleaned up and fixes.
LOOK AT THE BARRIER! Holy shit pic.twitter.com/Xhwy6AWiqy
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 23, 2018
This is the restart grid. There is ONE car #WTCR pic.twitter.com/ejfyJCjcAe
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 23, 2018
Huge impact #WTCR pic.twitter.com/xJ5c1n5KOW
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 23, 2018
Huff's car. Completely destroyed #WTCR #Golf pic.twitter.com/7r4SSNeaLa
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 23, 2018
#WTCR chaos from above pic.twitter.com/GhniKjHDFT
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 23, 2018
While it would be kinda hilarious to have one car just drive around the rest of the race and pick up the easiest win they ever had, teams were able to repair their cars for the restart. Seven cars were too damaged to continue, including the top five.
In fact, sixth place Yvan Muller only got to continue because he had a bad start that sent him to the back and avoid the bulk of the wreck. On the restart, he got his sixth spot back and because the top five were out of the race, was on the virtual pole. That stroke of luck proved beneficial for Muller as it got him the win.