The attention-catching, retrolicious all-electric Lancia Delta conversions designed by French motorsport engineering agency GCK Efficiency burned to a crisp whereas sitting within the service space in the course of the British spherical of the World Rallycross Championship (WRX), the place Sebastien Loen and Guerlain Chicherit have been set to pit them towards their rivals within the high RX1e class.
Carrying a Martini-like livery, the 2 Delta Evo-e RX EVs have been entered into this 12 months’s WRX by Particular One Racing, which says on its web site {that a} hearth broke out within the quantity 9 automobile, which is often pushed by Sebastien Loeb, on Friday 21 July, simply earlier than 8.45 am. The fireplace rapidly unfold to Guerlain Chicherit’s quantity 36 EV after which to one of many workforce’s two workshop vehicles current within the paddock at Lydden Hill.
The racing workforce provides that although the scene was rapidly evacuated and the fireplace brigade got here to the scene in due time, not one of the three automobiles could possibly be saved from the flames.
The FIA has launched an investigation to find out the fireplace, and the racing workforce says that the fireplace occurred whereas nobody was bodily touching the automobile. Nevertheless, the automobiles have been being recharged for a number of minutes when the fireplace began.
“After the fireplace that broke out underneath the construction housing our two automobiles, the primary important piece of stories was that no member of the workforce was injured,” Loeb stated. “My ideas exit to all of the women and men who’ve labored or are engaged on this challenge with such willpower and fervour, and who’ve seen every little thing go up in smoke in just some moments.”
Guerlain Chicherit, Loeb’s teammate and the founding father of Particular One Racing, stated that seeing the electrical Deltas go up in smoke was a very painful second for him and for the entire workforce.
“Apart from the fabric losses, I’d kike to level out that there have been no accidents among the many employees, who have been very skilled,” he added. “I want to specific my admiration and delight in each member of the workforce for having acted accurately and courageously from the start to the top of the fireplace.”
The Lacia-based electrical rallycross machines have been powered by a dual-motor all-wheel drive setup that put out 671 horsepower, enabling a 0-62 miles per hour (0-100 kilometers per hour) dash in simply 1.8 seconds.