NISMO Statement

[bauble]

During today’s ‘VLN 1’ race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a serious incident occurred involving the No.23 Nissan.

The car is reported to have left the track at the ‘Flugplatz’ section and vaulted the catch fencing, landing on its roof in a spectator area.

Several spectators were injured in the incident and despite immediate efforts one of them succumbed to their injuries. The others have been taken immediately to hospital for care.

The driver, Jann Mardenborough got out of the car and, after initial checks in the circuit Medical Centre, has been taken to hospital for further routine checks.

Today’s events have been a tragedy. We are all deeply shocked and saddened by these events and our immediate thoughts go to the deceased, those injured and their families and friends.

The team is fully co-operating with the race organisers to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident.

28 March 2015

[ger80]

RIP and hope the injured will be ok
Another sportscar went flying

[Snips1]

RIP really tragic.

[deley]

Tragic news
Thoughts are with all those involved.

[TF110]

Jann had his hands on his helmet outside the car. You couldnt imagine what was on his mind knowing what happened. Just that sinking expression he had from his body language... says it all. What a sad event

[mikuni]

This is truly terrible. I really feel for the families involved and the people that witnesses this.

I hope Jann can understand that it was just a terrible accident and that he is in no way to blame.

[GT6]

It is very sad, and although Jann was probably in no way responsible it will effect his future racing and always be there in the back of his mind

[J Jay]

It is a horrible situation for everybody involved, my condolences go out to the family of the deceased. At this point I'm glad to hear that the other injured spectators have non-serious injuries.

I do hope Jann realizes that he was a passenger in this accident. I've not seen anybody blaming him (apart from Taki Inoue) but if he blames himself that won't matter much.

[YorkshireLad]

Originally Posted by J Jay

It is a horrible situation for everybody involved, my condolences go out to the family of the deceased. At this point I'm glad to hear that the other injured spectators have non-serious injuries.

I do hope Jann realizes that he was a passenger in this accident. I've not seen anybody blaming him (apart from Taki Inoue) but if he blames himself that won't matter much.

What did Taki say? just enquiring thats all..

Sad news, it was just one of them tragic days, we all go to the races and know its dangerous but we never think it will happen to us, thoughts are with the families and people involved.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by YorkshireLad

What did Taki say? just enquiring thats all.

He blamed Mardenborough for the crash with words to the effect of "How can a gamer be expected to drive a race car well?" It wasn't a translation error either because he spent the rest of the day defending his opinion. However as of this morning he apologized for blaming Jann and deleted the tweets in question. I assume someone showed him the crash footage or had a quiet word; either way the error was realized and we move on.

[tux]

Some of the media's reaction has been appalling, comments on their site even worse so. One headline translated as "Fatal driver got behind the wheel through Playstation win"

[GTfour]

Very sad chain of events. My thoughts for the family who lost a loved one.

That said, I think the organisation should have never allowed spectators on that particular part of the track, being it placed at the outside of a high speed corner. Also that said, there's a reason why in England you tend to see signs with "WARNING motorsport can be dangerous. Dispite the organisers taking all reasonable precautions, unavoidable accidents can happen. You are here at your own risk". So I blame the organisers for this one.

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by GTfour

........ So I blame the organisers for this one.

Your thoughts and energy would be better spent in an analysis of cause - effect - possible remedies - decision.
Blame gets you nowhere.

[FLGTFAN]

Awful tragedy. I couldn't help but notice that the underside of the airborne car is entirely flat, excepting nothing. Reminds me of the problems with flat-bottom LMP's getting airborne.