Brits on Pole

Verstappen crashes Davidson’s Le Mans Aston 008

By LJ Hutchins

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

 

Just when Anthony Davidson has sorted himself out a decent drive… his co-driver Jos Verstappen takes the car for a test outing at Monza and sticks it in a wall.

Now Aston Martin has a race against time to get its LMP1 008 entry ready for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking place on the weekend of June 13 and 14. You couldn’t make it up, could you?

Verstappen, who is piloting the car alongside Davidson and British GT youngster Stuart Hall, lost control under braking at Parabolica and crashed heavily after doing about 30 laps, later claiming on his website that the chassis had been written off in the accident.

He went on to explain that he had braked at an almost identical spot to previous laps, but suffered a lock-up of the rear wheels, which spun the car and sent it into the barriers at nearly 200 miles per hour.

Verstappen was thankfully unhurt – but the same cannot be said of the car, which must now be rebuilt with just three weeks to go to the race.

He said: “I feel really terrible and I think this is the worst thing for the Aston Martin Racing team. I do not understand how this could have happened, because I was not even pushing hard.

“It was as if something was wrong, very weird. But I’m not trying to find an excuse because I was the one in the car.

“I have pain in my right hand and a stiff neck. It was not a normal impact, so there was some pain. But that will go away. I think it is much worse for the team.”

• Davidson made an appearance at the PFI kart circuit in Lincolnshire on May 15 to test a range of Formula TKM karts. Despite heavy rain, he did eventually get some track time.

Originally the event, organised by Davidson’s PR company Hayden Media and Karting Magazine, was to feature Mike Hayden carrying out the testing duties but he was forced to withdraw due to an arm injury.

The company joked that, in former F1 driver Davidson, who is a good friend of Hayden, a “reasonable substitute” had been found.

Related posts:

• Le Mans: Davidson to compete for Aston in potential race-winner
• F1: Hamilton reveals how flu nearly cost him European GP points
• Could Anthony Davidson move to DTM?
• Le Mans: which British drivers are taking part?
• BRDC Young Driver Award 2008: the shortlist

Read more about 24hrs of Le Mans, Anthony Davidson, Aston Martin, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Jos Verstappen, LMP1.

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Author: LJ Hutchins. Supports McLaren, kind of. Thinks James May gets a rough deal off the other two. Drives a Subaru Impreza but regrets its lack of bright blue paint and gold wheels. Is very nearly old enough to know better but probably never will. Has just joined the BWRDC and is about to have a go at driving a rally car. LJ has written 1080 articles for us.