VIDEO: GP2 driver Ernesto Viso's flight training
GP2 driver Ernesto Viso had quite a scare during last Saturday's first GP2 race at Magny Cours. After hitting the car infront of him, which had gotten on the brakes, Viso's car became airborne, hit the safety barrier, came apart, and landed on the other side. According to his official website, it took 15 minutes to extract him from the car, but the only injuries suffered were a concussion some minor contusions. One of the track marshalls who escaped injury from Viso's flying car was reportedly (and understandably) treated for shock as well. Following an overnight hospital stay, the Venezuelan driver was back at Magny Cours on Sunday watching the GP2 action, which is a pretty good considering how dire the situation looked just a day earlier.
Follow the jump for a trio of wince-inducing videos depicting the crash.
[Source: DailyCarVideos.com, multiple news outlets]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil 7:22PM (7/03/2007)
Just goes to show, all the hans devices and crumple zones in the world are never going to make racing completely safe. He was not far off whacking the top of that barrier with his head, and the outcome wouldn't have been good.
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Craig 10:03AM (7/04/2007)
If that accident had of happened 15 years ago, I reckon Ernesto would not be with us today.
You cannot make racing totally safe, but you can try your hardest to do so. In the end, luck is your bed fellow.
Dig D 7:30PM (7/03/2007)
"GP2 driver Ernesto Viso had quite a scare..."
Ernesto ! What about those 4 safety workers that he almost took out, he knocked the top of the fire extinguisher off from the last two guys as they were running out of the way. I am just glad that platform (?) was not being used by a camera crew. WoW!
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Alex Nunez 7:37PM (7/03/2007)
Dig D, I actually just updated the post to reflect that, as one of those officials was treated for shock. Scary stuff, indeed.
Officeslacker 10:08PM (7/03/2007)
I was actually a hundred feet from the track at the Molson Indy in Toronto in 1996, where an almost identical accident happened. A late yellow flag near the end of the race bunched all the drivers up again and everyone just went for it. I was sitting near the end of the so-called "Thunder Alley" on Lakeshore Blvd when Jeff Krosnoff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Krosnoff clipped the car in front of him and went airborne. That accident wasn't so lucky, though. Jeff's wheel hit a race official and killed him and then hit a pedestrian overpass and the car absolutely disintegrated. An awful ending to the race weekend.
YouTube video highlights of the race, crash is at about 4:50 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHkLXzdlrYs).
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Peter 6:36AM (7/04/2007)
Here's another vid, where you can also see that fire extinguisher standing behind the wall with the top knocked off. Holy shit, that was close...
http://doctorvee.co.uk/index.php?tag=ernesto-viso
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Bruno Kussler Marques 8:38AM (7/04/2007)
Very similar to an accident that happen in 95 who had kill a pilot called Marcos Campos during a F3000 race. 12 years later the wall still there waiting to kill someone else.
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