It is never a good feeling on a Monday morning to report a death news or a casualty from the last weekend's tragedy.., but it is the...
It is never a good feeling on a Monday morning to report a death news or a casualty from the last weekend's tragedy.., but it is the fact that is more important. One thing is for sure! Motorsports are not for the faint-hearted who just want fun! It was such an unfortunate tragic incident that these two young racing couple couldn't get out nor could be saved by the first spotters, as the car plunged into the small and tight canal aside the road bend/corner after the driver lost control and hitting the mountain face on the outside the curve. The video says it all.
The Peugeot 207 S2000 was driven by Valerio Catelani and co-driven/navigated by Daniela Bertoneri [they were a couple], who both were consumed by the fire that broke immediately on the impact of the car hitting the mountain face and it made even the fans/onlookers impossible if not difficult to even get near the car to help the duo to evacuate as the raging inferno was so intense. They were competing in 47th Rally Città di Lucca, and it was at special stage 4, a night stage, about 3.5kms from the start, in the city Brancoli, in Italy. The accident took place after approx 2.minutes from the stage start, and could not be realised or spotted until the fire/smoke was seen. Even the following car could not spot them at that time, how tragic! By the time the rescuers reached the spot, it was too late and the fire was out of control at the first few moments and when it subsided, the accident had claimed those two lives. The couple were no new to the sport, who had 10 or more years of experience in the sport.
Our deep condolences to the family, friends, the dearest & nearest. May their souls rest in peace!
One piece of advice to the competitors: It is not the one and only competition you would be doing, so take it easy & be realistic with your and your car's capabilities. It is not deniable that motor-racing is all about speed, but speed is not all! Hope there are no more such incidents, as they make the organizers and federation to rethink every time such moments to take drastic measures, where either the events are restricted or banned..
We can also expect that the local authorities take on account of such places which could lead to such incident, even for regular commuters & not competition alone. It is going to be debate even with barriers, as it was not very long we saw Gareth loose his life to a armco barrier.. Its been too many lives gone this year in this sport, if not less.. Hoping road engineers come-out with a better solution in such tricky places.
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