Nigel Mansell escaped serious injury after crashing out just 17 minutes into his debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours race yesterday. The 1992 Formula One world champion, racing a Ginetta Zytek in the premier LMP1 category, appeared to suffer a puncture that pitched him into the barriers on both sides of the track on the run down to Indianapolis from Mulsanne Corner on his fifth lap. The 56-year-old remained in the car for several minutes after the impact and was eventually helped into a waiting ambulance and taken to the circuit's medical centre.
The safety car was brought out for 31 minutes while marshals and medical staff cleared the scene of debris and helped Mansell from his car and into an ambulance. Fears over the extent of Mansell's injuries were calmed when an update on the race's official website, www.lemans.org, revealed that Mansell was "fine" after receiving "a bump on the head". Mansell, part of a three-driver line-up at Beechdean Mansell team alongside his sons Leo and Greg, had set his sights on a strong showing this weekend in order to attract backers to fund future Le Mans appearances.
It was also a disastrous opening for the No 3 Peugeot of Pedro Lamy, Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud, who were forced to retire from the race after two and a half hours. They were forced to withdraw from the event with suspension damage when running in the top three. The 78th staging of the classic event was started by Jean Todt, the FIA president. As the race reached its 11th hour yesterday when The National went to press, the event was led by the No 1 Peugeot car of Alexander Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Marc Gene.
The race went on overnight and continues this morning and is scheduled to finish at 4pm this afternoon. * Agencies
