Quote Originally Posted by Mirek View Post
Sorry but what You just wrote is terrible simplifaction of such situation.
1) Is there a rule saying that the crew is obliged to stop and check if someone was injured (unless they are not aware they hit someone) in the French championship? If the answer is yes than it's irrelevant if the spectators were bad placed. The essence is whether the rule was breached or not.
2) If You claim that the place was marked as forbidden area it's the spectators who are to blame rather than the organizer. It's virtually impossible to 100% guard rally stages and even a simple no go sign shall be enough to inform the spectator that when he goes there he is the one who brakes the rules and shall take the responsibility if something bad happens.
I’m not terribly simplifying mate, just firmly stating that Michel, or any other rally driver, shouldn’t be penalized for this kind of incidents, whatever the regs say.

Btw, when marshals can’t move bad placed spectators from a notorious dangerous spot (like this one, once the tapes), the normal procedure is to inform rally officials and those will decide if the stage must be delayed, stopped or continue as programmed; they are responsible for the chosen option.