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Spectator Killed In Freak Accident

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The world of Motorsport was rocked today as a spectator was killed and several more injured during the VLN Endurance Championship race at the historic Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The circuit is widely known throughout the world for its very technical and challenging nature. It is a goliath of a circuit at just shy of 13 miles in length.

Jann Mardenborough was the driver that crashed in his Nissan GTR Nismo. His car flipped as he dove over a crest and he crashed into the barriers at high speed. The 23 year old driver who is from Cardiff, was taken to a nearby hospital for medical checks whilst several spectator were injured and 1 fatality.

Nissan’s Statement:

“The team is fully co-operating with the race organisers to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation,”

Mardenborough’s car flipped and left the track at high speed as it negotiated the Flugplatz section of the historic circuit.

After crashing through the trackside fencing it landed on its roof in a spectator area.

“Several spectators were injured in the incident and despite immediate efforts one of them succumbed to their injuries,”

“The others have been taken immediately to hospital for care.

“The driver, Jann Mardenborough, got out of the car and, after initial checks in the circuit medical centre, has been taken to hospital for further routine checks.”

Nissan also added:

“Today’s events have been a tragedy.”

“We are all deeply shocked and saddened by these events and our immediate thoughts go to the deceased, those injured and their families and friends.”

Race organisers VLN also issued a statement saying they were “deeply saddened” and “their thoughts were with families and friends of the victims”.

Mardenborough, whose father Steve played football for Wolves, Coventry, Cardiff and Swansea, had not raced until 2011 when he beat 90,000 entrants to win the GT Academy, a video-gaming competition sponsored by Nissan and based on the Gran Turismo series of PlayStation games.

Mardenborough has since competed in the British GT Championship, Le Mans 24-Hours and the 2014 GP3 series. He is on the Red Bull Junior Team driver programme.

It is events like this that the safety of the spectators is just as important as the drivers themselves. Our thoughts go out to the families of those injured in the accident and especially to the family of the spectator who was killed in the crash.

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