One of the most memorable moments (partly for all the wrong reasons) in this years edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans occurred on 11 June, three days before the race even started. On that fateful Wednesday afternoon Free Practice was underway when we heard news of a major crash. It was an Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Car #1 at the time was going through the Porsche Curves with Loïc Duval behind the wheel. At first the worst was feared but, despite the eerie vision of a car pirouetting across the air and hitting the crash barriers indicated the outcome might have been very serious, we were all relieved to know the Audi driver was OK, considering. Apart from the crashs final moments being repeatedly broadcast on TV, little more was shown and only one day later did we get to see an exclusive photo by UKs Autosport Magazine of the dreaded accident. Yesterday, a few images shot by an amateur photographer, Michel Lenain, surfaced on a TenTenths Motorsport forum. Since no major harm was suffered by Duval, theyre a true testimony to todays passive safety applied to all racers in the top class of contemporary sportscars (the LMP1 class, as was the case). Without the rules both the ACO and the FIA have defined for this type of machine, the ultimate expression as far as a race cars go, the outcome might have been completely different. As for the #1 itself, Audi Sport and its renowned ability to transform a likely disaster into a winning situation managed to convert in record time their test cars spare tub into a fully functional R18 which very aptly raced the 24-hours, even achieving a meritorious 2nd place overall with Tom Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Marc Gené at the wheel (the later driver replacing a shaken Loïc Duval). Lets take a look at the photos, starting with a few screen captures from TV, two from unknown authors, the Autosport exclusive we mentioned and then the three photos taken by Michel Lenain. All these still give me the chills.... #LeMans2014 #LeMansCrashes #24LM #LM24 #R18
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 20:51:11 +0000