Watching team-mate and good friend Sergio Pires make huge impact with a concrete wall at nearly 200km/hr - it was a horror moment which shook driver Brad Schumacher.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Schumacher had arrived at the Adelaide Parklands Circuit on Saturday morning with thoughts of defending his GT World Challenge Australia class championship.
It was Pires who gave him that chance by entering his old Audi for the season finale, Schumacher's own car having been upgraded and no longer eligible for the GT Trophy class crown.
Together they'd already notched up a class win in Friday's opening race and as the time ticked down in Saturday's race, Pires was doing a good job to be second in class.
But then came a moment that changed things. Instead of hoping for a national title, Schumacher, from Bathurst in NSW's Central West, was hoping Pires would be okay.
A passing move at turn 13 went wrong.
"Gary Higgon was ahead and he went wide and let Yasser Shahin through and Sergio went to follow through behind Yasser," Schumacher said.
"Gary didn't see Sergio and turned across basically and clipped his rear left. It plucked the wheel straight out of the car and put him head-on into the concrete fence.
"It was pretty disturbing, as soon as something like that happens you're not thinking about anything other than the safety of the person who is in the incident.
"Sergio is a good friend of mine and has been for many years, so I was immediately concerned for his safety, especially when he didn't get out of the car for some time.
"Because the car was up against the wall he was unable to get out the drivers' side door and because he had a broken collarbone he wasn't able to drag himself through the car and out the other side."
As Schumacher indicated, the force of the impact left Pires with a collarbone that was broken in three places.
He will undergo surgery on Tuesday.
As for the car, Schumacher said: "It is unrepairable, it will never see a race track again."
Though the incident meant Schumacher was unable to make it back-to-back national championships, he was just thankful Pires avoided more serious injury.
Prior to the incident on Saturday morning, Schumacher and Pires had been enjoying a good run on the challenging Adelaide street circuit.
Schumacher surprised many in the opening practice when he clocked the fifth fastest lap in the outdated 2012 model Audi that wasn't actually a purpose-built GT3 race car, but rather a converted R8 road car.
"It's so old it still had the blinker stalks and things like that on it, blinkers and windscreen wipers," Schumacher said.
"So to put it into P5 was actually a pretty solid effort because the car is not up to the current standard, it just takes so much more effort to make that car go fast."
More good things came in race one as Schumacher clocked class record race lap for the Adelaide circuit - a 1:21.9213 - on the way to finishing first in class and fifth outright.
IN OTHER NEWS:
But in race two on Saturday morning the high-speed crash ended their weekend.
"We were going well, I'd shown my speed in practice one in the old car," Schumacher said.
"Both of us had the same plan just to drive a safe race each race and finish, that's really all we had to do to win the championship. Unfortunately due to that incident, the championship went to Michael Kokkinos and I finished second.
"But with the bad aside, it was really cool to be part of the Adelaide 500. It's honestly probably the best event I've ever been to bar none."
Schumacher said the atmosphere of the Adelaide 500 event - headlined by the Supercars' season finale - was excellent.
Tackling the tight circuit was also a challenge he rose to.
"The circuit from a drivers' perspective is just unbelievable to race around. You can tell it was designed for Formula 1," he said.
"The circuit is super risky everywhere and you've got all the usual additions of a street circuit like manhole covers and grates and bumps and painted white lines.
"The fences now have been moved right in to all the exits on the turns. You've got to be so precise on that circuit, the mental capacity it takes to drive around there in a GT3 car is really exhausting.
"It's the type of circuit that you've really got to make sure you're getting your braking markers and apexes right."
Schumacher and Pires finished third in class for the round.
Schumacher's second placing in the outright class championship added to his runner-up finish in the 2022 Motorsport Australia Endurance Championship.
That on top of a second place in the three-hour endurance at the Bathurst International and a strong performance in the Bathurst 12 Hour means the year can certainly be considered a success.
"I think this year in general I've driven quite well, I think I've really stepped it up," Schumacher said.
