10/08/2026
We are writing to formally report a severe safety problem that occurred during the Picos/Praia 1 stage of the Explore Santa Maria Rallye 2026. This incident posed an unacceptable risk to human life. A few kilometers into the stage, we experienced an issue and needed to pull into a designated “emergency” runoff area. We approached the area with our hazard lights on. Instead of a clear safety zone, we were confronted by a literal human wall of spectators. Behind this crowd, the road was completely blocked with coolers, buckets, and personal gear.
We were forced to come to a full stop because the emergency escape route was entirely blocked by people and objects.
As soon as we managed to pass through, the crowd immediately closed the gap and re-formed the human wall across the road🙏🏻.
Zero action was taken by the organization's pre-race safety cars (Zero Cars). They drove through the stage prior to the start, witnessed this setup, and completely ignored it.
There is a glaring double standard in how safety is enforced. During scrutineering, technical commissioners inspect every single detail of our cars with extreme rigidity. Yet, during the actual race, official personnel drive down the stages acting like tourists, completely blind to catastrophic safety hazards on the track.
Consider the physics and the stakes of this sport. If a Car approaches that zone at high speed and suffers a sudden mechanical failure—such as total brake loss—the car will plow into that human wall. We would kill dozens of people and destroy the vehicle on the equipment scattered across the road🙏🏻
This is just a “wake-up call” for both spectators, FPAK and organizers. Safety cannot just be a checklist at scrutineering; it must be enforced on the ground.
We apologize, but we had to draw attention to this and show part of our onboard so you could understand the real danger we are talking about.
