Jumping the Fence

Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch. The teenager was fatally injured when an errant wheel from Jack Clarke’s Motorsport Vision machine hit Surtees in the head as he approached Sheene Curve.

This weekend just passed saw the junior formula return to the circuit for the for time since the accident as it supported the WTCC. In what should have been a day of celebration of both Surtees’ life and of motorsport in Britain, was marred on Sunday afternoon by yet another dreadful accident, this time during the SEAT Leon Eurocup race.
Poleman Francisco Carvalho fell to 4th position early and found himself in a battle with Stian Paulsen. The pair had contact just beyond Sheene Curve, sending Carvalho spiralling toward the barrier. The Portuguese driver slammed into the barrier hard and began to barrel roll, at which point his Monlau-Competition machine somersaulted over the barrier and into the marshal area.

Thankfully in this instance no one was hurt, but it once again points to yet another huge smash at Brands Hatch and with the circuit being as fast as it is, its features most definitely need some reconsideration. The race was red flagged and a result classified after 7 of the 16 laps, with Pepe Oriola claiming the win and only half points.