12/03/24
June 22, 2013
Aston Martin driver Allan Simonsen killed.: The driver crashed just nine minutes into the 24 hour race, crashing heavily and causing an almost hour long safety car to repair the barrier. Allan was treated at the scene, and then transferred to the medical center where he succumbed to his injuries.
posted by Drood to auto racing at 06:53 PM - 2 comments
Never seen so many problems with barriers in the 30 years I've been a racing fan. Safety car was out for a total of 6 hours! And a lot of that was so barriers could be repaired. Clearly something went very badly wrong this year as there was at least 3 crashes that required barrier repairs.
Was a bad Le Mans this year. Battle at the front wasn't especially exciting, the Simonsen accident put a dark cloud over the event, and the endless safety cars...
And yes you are correct. Large part of the circuit is made up of public roads.
posted by Drood at 04:29 PM on June 25, 2013
It is always tragic to lose someone in auto racing accident or any other kind of accident for that matter. I hope LeMans will take steps to make the barriers safer. I understand a lot of the track consists of country roads but steps should be taken to help make the racing safer.