Why the WTCR's Nurburgring cancellation was “the least worst decision”

The decision to cancel the World Touring Car Cup races last weekend on the Nurburgring Nordschleife because of Goodyear tyre safety fears, just 15 minutes before the first was due to start, couldn’t be anything other than painful, costly and humiliating for everyone with skin in the game. But it was also the right call, or more accurately as Honda’s William de Braekeleer put it, “the least worst decision”.

You could say this was an ‘Indianapolis 2005 moment’, but let’s keep some perspective. Back then at the United States Grand Prix, on one of Formula 1’s darkest days, the ‘race’ went ahead despite Michelin-shod teams feeling compelled to withdraw at the end of the warm-up lap, leaving just six Bridgestone runners to take the start.

If that was the definition of travesty and farce, this new example fell well short. Instead, it was just desperately unlucky. But between Goodyear, promoter Discovery Sports Events and the FIA something much worse than embarrassment might have been side-stepped, in the nick of time.

Tiago Monteiro was among the six who raced at Indy, finishing a bizarre third for Jordan – and he should have been on the grid at the Nurburgring last weekend too, in his Engstler-run Honda that was one of many affected by the tyre problems.

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“This is out of our control,” he said. “We have an extra 60kg on the car [compared to rivals], it’s a fact we are heavy and it’s probably not helping. I’m very upset about it.

“It’s not good for the show, but it’s very dangerous for us as drivers. We have to be realistic and think about safety first. As everyone probably knows, I have been in a tyre drama in F1 and it played my way at the time. But you can’t play with