01/12/2014
NEWS STORY
Former F1 star Mark Webber was lucky to escape serious injury in crash that marred the final round of the World Endurance Championship.
It is understood the Australian's Porsche burst into flames after colliding with another car and then hitting a safety barrier at Interlagos.
"Heavy crash for @AussieGrit in #porsche919hybrid no 20," tweeted his team. "Driver is ok."
The Australian, who quit F1 for WEC at the end of last season, was favourite for the win today having taken pole, however the late collision with Matteo Cressoni's Ferrari 458 on the long run up the hill after the final corner ended any hope of securing Porsche's maiden win on its return to Sports Cars indeed, that honour went to teammates Neel Jani, Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas in the sister car.
Taking an unbearably long time to climb from the car, Webber eventually emerged, giving a thumbs-up to the crowd before being carried off to the circuit's medical centre on a stretcher.
The Australian had been looking forward to returning the classis Brazilian track, writing on his website: "Interlagos has always been good to me, I won there twice and have been on the podium a few times so would it be great to finish my first season with Porsche in the WEC with another great result.
"It has always been one of my most favourite tracks because of the history with the drivers they’ve had; Senna, Piquet and Fittipaldi did a huge amount for the sport," he added. "The Brazilians love motorsport and are very passionate about it, it’s got a great atmosphere and there’s always been a bit of drama as well with unpredictable weather."
No sooner had Jenson Button - who could be heading for WEC himself if talks to retain his McLaren F1 drive fall through, tweeted "Glad to see @AussieGrit is ok after his shunt at Interlagos @fiawec, that was a big one matey," than the FIA WEC confirmed that "Webber is awake and alert in medical centre."
Other than some worrying crashes in F1, including an major accident at almost exactly the same spot in 2003, Webber had a couple of worrying incidents last time out in Sports Cars; the Australian suffering two flips (one in practice and another during the warm-up) in the Mercedes at Le Mans in 1999. Indeed, a similar crash involving Peter Dumbreck during the race caused Mercedes to call a halt to its Sports Car programme, the German manufacturer having been involved in the 1955 disaster at the French circuit which saw driver Pierre Levegh and eighty-three spectators perish.
A subsequent official statement issued by the WEC read:
"At 18h33 local, during the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, an accident occurred between the no20 Porsche 919 hybrid of Mark Webber and no90 8Star Motorsport Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni.
Mark Webber is reported to be awake and alert and taken to the circuit's medical centre for further examination. Matteo Cressoni was examined at the side of the track and did not go to the Medical Centre."
Only last Thursday it was revealed that, along with his F1 commitments with Force India, Nico Hulkenberg is to contest Le Mans next year with Porsche.
Picture Credit: Twitter