Allan Simonsen's Fatal Crash *Live*

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• published: 30 Dec 2013
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At Le Mans Allan Simonsen who was at his seventh Circuit de la Sarthe start, was among the favorites to finish highly over the 24-hour race, and qualified the car on pole in the GTE Am class. Came race day, and after only nine minutes of racing with a threat of rain, Simonsen who was first in his class, started his fourth lap. His Aston Martin went out of control at the Tertre Rouge corner, the fast bend that leads into Les Hunaudières straight, and shifted sharply to the left at high speed, after running wide and over the wet blue kerbs. The car went over the 25-meter paved run-off area and crashed violently against the unprotected barrier, on the driver's door. The very bent monocoque with the side of the car open, bounced almost on the path of the oncoming drivers, while a tyre coming off the front left wheel and rolling across the track. According to an on-board footage from Gimmi Bruni's Ferrari, following immediately behind Simonsen at the time of the crash, another AF Corse's Ferrari F458 Italia driven by Toni Vilander skidded right round in a separate incident just seconds earlier at the same corner. The evidence suggests that this car possibly was instrumental, but not the cause of Allan Simonsen's crash. The driver was extracted from the wreck several minutes later while yellow flags were shown at that section on the track. In a serious condition, Simonsen was transferred to the Circuit Medical Centre, but despite the efforts of the doctors, the Dane died from his injuries shortly after his arrival. After the accident the organizers deployed a safety car, which remained on track for almost 50 minutes, to enable the marshals to clean the accident and to rebuild a long stretch of destroyed guardrail. The Aston Martin Racing's principal, David Richards decided to keep on racing with the other four cars of the team across the two GTE Pro and Am classes, at the request of the family, and in tribute to Allan Simonsen. He was the first race fatality at Le Mans since 16 years. In 1997 the Frenchman Sébastien Enjolras lost his life during a pre-qualifying run (Essais Préliminaires), at the wheel of a WR LM97 - Peugeot. Allan Simonsen was 34-year-old. He was survived by his partner Carina and their daughter Mie-Mai, born in 2012.