Azores bosses defend rally recovery

Organisers of the Azores Rally have responded to criticism that they failed to assist David Botka in retrieving his stricken Skoda Fabia R5 after a crash at last month’s European Rally Championship opener.

On the penultimate stage of the event the Hungarian rolled and was upside down.

Following his retirement, Botka posted on Facebook: “Unfortunately, the directors didn’t send any help. More specifically, their tow truck driver said ‘there’s no way to pull it out’ and then he left.

“With a machete and a hand-winch, we pulled it out of the depth with flashlights and the lights of our phones. We literally had to pull the car every inch.”

The rally’s chief safety officer, Antonio Medeiros, responded by saying: “[We were made] aware of the mentioned accident and were assured that the affected competitors were OK. When the tow car arrived at the site, its driver found that he could not take the car because it was more than 200m from the road and overturned. Following the arrival of the competitor’s team, our tow car was dismissed.”

Clerk Antonio Andrade added: “It seems to me that the competitor’s post on his team Facebook profile shows some lights pointed at them [while the car was being recovered]. They’re from a fire engine, as I realised when I was there. The theory of being there only with the lights of mobile phones, as well as other statements made, do not correspond.”