Serious incident in the fourth hour of the 24 Hours of Spa – All drivers OK

A horrific incident marred the fourth hour of the Spa 24 when a multi-car collision occurred on the old main straight at 20:15 local time. All three drivers involved – Christian Hook of Rinaldi Racing, Nicolas Baert of Comtoyou and Adrian D’Silva of Earl Bamber Motorsport – are safe and sound, according to medical staff at the circuit.

The incident was sparked by side-on contact between the No. 333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Christian Hook and the No. 12 Comtoyou Aston Martin of Nicolas Baert. Coming out of La Source, Baert pulled inside to launch an attack. As the track curved around the Endurance Pits, the two squashed together, squeezing the Aston into the inside wall and sending the Ferrari sliding into the pit wall at the front.

The incident caused the large group of cars behind him to go off the track as Baert’s Aston Martin crossed the track and came to a stop on the grass to the driver’s left. Hook’s Ferrari bounced off the pit wall and came to a stop in the middle of the racing line on the circuit near Eau Rouge.

The marshals showed double yellow flags and the group immediately following slowed significantly to get around Hook’s stalled car. The car remained stationary for over 10 seconds while double yellow flags were shown because although many cars were slowing down, some cars passed the accident scene at near racing speeds.

It seemed only a matter of time before another incident occurred – and it did. Adrian D’Silva had not been seen by a car ahead of him and reacted too late to the stationary Ferrari No. 333. D’Silva’s EBM Porsche No. 61 crashed into the stricken Ferrari, hitting the left side and rear of the Ferrari and the right front of the Porsche at high speed.

As a result of this impact, the Ferrari, in which Hook was still sitting, was thrown back into the pit wall on the approach to Eau Rouge, where the rear of the Ferrari burst into flames.

Here is the incident that led to the safety car period.

The Aston Martin No. 12 (Baert) and the Ferrari No. 333 (Hook) collide at the exit of La Source – the latter is then hit by the Porsche No. 61 (D’Silva).

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The flames were quickly extinguished and Christian Hook was removed from the car by the medical team. D’Silva’s Porsche, now missing its entire front right corner, came to a stop behind Eau Rouge with D’Silva exiting the car under his own power. As previously mentioned, all three drivers have been confirmed to be OK.

Debris from the accident was scattered all over the track, so race control had to immediately put the field under safety car deployment and send the safety car train into the pit lane to give the track marshals time to clean the track.

The clean-up took 20 minutes and the race resumed shortly after four hours had elapsed.

All three cars, the Comtoyou Aston Martin No. 12, the EBM Porsche No. 61 and the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari No. 333, are eliminated.

DSC Ed – There is significant doubt as to the speed at which several drivers approached a clearly marked accident zone, with both double waved yellow flags on the ground and flashing yellow LED screens at high altitude displayed for several seconds prior to final contact between the #61 and #333.