Sebastien Loeb Racing have confirmed that both Rob Huff and Mehdi Bennani have been released from hospital after yesterday’s horror crash in which they played a pivotal role. The team-mates collided at the start of the opening World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) race on Saturday, both withstanding major impacts in a crash which escalated quickly out of control. Fortunately, neither have suffered broken bones or any other serious/permanent injury. As such, this means that all drivers involved in the freak accident have been medically cleared to compete in a month’s time at the Slovakiaring, the next event on the WTCR calendar.
Despite the fact that both of the team’s cars were written-off in the accident, Sebastien Loeb Racing is confident of being able to find a new pair of Volkswagen Golf GTi TCRs to compete with. Similarly, the Munnich Motorsport Honda Civic FK8 TCR of James Thompson (which has been withdrawn this weekend due to damage as well) is also expected to be either repaired or replaced before the championship heads to Slovakia.
Although not as severely damaged as the Volkswagens, Thompson’s Honda was also withdrawn from the event. Image Credit: Francois Flamand/DPPI
A notable theme to take from the incident has been that of camaraderie between the WTCR drivers in the immediate aftermath of the crash. James Thompson was noted to have come to the aid of Yann Ehrlacher after the Frenchman was unable to escape his boxed-in Honda, while Tom Coronel also spoke of drivers acting similarly in order to help free Zsolt Szabo, who found himself trapped inside his Cupra. Today, Rob Huff additionally commended the likes of Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller for helping him escape the wreckage and provide support before the medics arrived. So, despite the obvious sporting rivalries, it’s certainly evident that all of the WTCR competitors have the utmost respect and concern for their fellow drivers, which from the outside is great to see.
Now though, the hard work begins for Sebastien Loeb Racing to be ready in time to compete at the Slovakiaring.
