Top 10 crashes of 2017 – Part 2

5) Fabian Coulthard, Pukekohe

The second lap of the Saturday race at a wet and slippery Symmons Plains delivered carnage of an unprecedented scale in the Supercars Championship.

Side-to-side contact between Fabian Coulthard and Rick Kelly on the run through Turn 3 was the trigger – the sliding Ford knocking the Nissan into the left-side wall.

With both cars slowed by the contact, a chain reaction dragged in those behind - Tim Slade, Garth Tander, Cameron Waters, Percat, Tim Blanchard, James Moffat, Scott Pye, James Courtney, Alex Rullo, Will Davison, Taz Douglas and Simona De Silvestro.

Davison fared worst of all, sustaining a fracture to an offshoot from a vertebrae, while Kelly – whose car was struck heavily by Davison’s Holden – was later diagnosed with two minor muscle tears in his left leg.

Joining the duo on the sidelines for Sunday due to the damage to their cars were Courtney and Douglas, while others – including all three BJR entries and both GRM Holdens – required extensive overnight repairs.

The lengthy clean-up meant no more racing laps were completed for Race 3. While restarting the cars and greeting the flag after the time cut-off under Safety Car satisfied the requirements for a race to be declared, no championship points were awarded.