IMSA: Keating files suit over Monterey crash

Race-winning driver and team owner Ben Keating has filed suit against the International Motor Sport Association (IMSA) and the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) for the damage and losses incurred during May's TUDOR United SportsCar Championship event at the Californian road course.

Keating, who was piloting No. 33 Riley Technologies Dodge Viper, exited the race on lap two when he encountered an errant storm drain grate and a tall pipe on the exit of Turn 5. The pipe ripped through the Viper's right-front bodywork and suspension, which ruined Keating's final result.

After climbing from the car and surveying the damage, Keating said "We had a great car but, unfortunately, right at the exit of Turn 5 on lap two, there was a drainage grate that popped up perpendicular to the track after the prototypes ran over it. It sawed into our car. It literally looks like we ran it through a buzzsaw."

According to the local Carmel Pine Cone newspaper, Keating is suing IMSA and SCRAMP citing "gross negligence" for the carnage that came from the meeting with the drainage material, and the financial fallout that followed, including potential prize money losses in the championship, not to mention travel and staffing costs for Monterey.

The newspaper adds, "David Hart, public relations manager for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, told the The Pine Cone that SCRAMP is aware of the lawsuit and that it was filed 'as a standard step in an insurance settlement procedure.'"

Through Keating's Tropacaval Media, LLC company, the Texan's lawyer filed the lawsuit on Sept. 14 asking for "$58,289.93 in damages for car repairs; $300,000 in travel, transport, crew costs and other expenses," per The Pine Cone.

Also, a "$15,000 'fee'" for Keating's co-driver Jeroen Bleekemolen was listed among the desired items for compensation.

Assigning costs to the damage and expenses with the North Carolina-based team's punishing trek to Monterey is relatively easy. The complaint's request for losses due to finishing at the bottom of the GT Daytona class, and in the season-long championship standings payout could be a challenge to recoup.

"If Mr. Keating had not had the Laguna Seca race ruined by the defendants' failure to properly maintain the drainage gates, [the team] would have had the opportunity to finish in first place," Keating's lawyer wrote in the complaint before noting the incident caused a "dramatic fall in the standings," and that Keating's program "will likely lose valuable sponsorship money that it otherwise would have gained."

Reached by RACER on Tuesday, Keating declined to comment. IMSA also declined to comment on the matter.

Keating, Bleekemolen and the Riley Technologies team is schedule to participate in this weekend's IMSA season finale at Road Atlanta.