Watch sickening crash at Le Mans series as car smashed to pieces and driver, 63, lucky to be alive

SICKENING scenes played out in Italy with a driver lucky to survive after being involved in a high-speed crash around an ex-Formula One circuit

Claudio Schiavoni miraculously escaped a fatal collision with the wall during the Four Hour Le Mans Series race at Mugello Circuit on Sunday.

@EuropeanLMSA horror crash in the European Le Mans Series left a driver lucky to escape[/caption]

RexClaudio Schiavoni was in action in his Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSFollowing a safety car restart Schiavoni was leading a pack away down the back straight[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSBut his rear bumper was hit by Iron Dames driver Rahel Frey[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSThe Italian driver then went spinning into the wall[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSThe high-speed crash saw debris shoot all over the track[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSSchiavoni’s Porsche rebounded back onto the race track[/caption]

@EuropeanLMSBut rival drivers managed to take evasive measures to avoid him[/caption]

Entering the third hour of the race, Schiavoni was leading a pack from Rahel Frey following a third safety car restart.

However, Frey’s No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche got too close down the back straight and hit the rear bumper of Schiavoni’s No. 60 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The knock caused Schiavoni to spin out of control and veer off to the right before hitting a barrier.

The Italian’s car then rebounded back onto the track, with speeding rivals somehow managing to dodge the 63-year-old as debris was shot across the road.

Schiavoni’s Porsche was totalled and triggered a red flag to stop the race.

Despite the high-speed crash, Schiavoni walked away from the wreckage under his own power.

The race time was subsequently extended by 20 minutes to compensate for the stoppage.

It was eventually won by Iron Lynx-Proton, who became the fifth different team from five races to win in the European Le Mans Series this season.

Frey’s Iron Dames team released a statement following the race.

It read: “It was a very difficult race today. The frightening high-speed accident with car #60 was the last thing we wanted to happen.

“We’re really sorry that Claudio, Matteo and Julien had to retire early. P5 in the end, but the most important thing is that Claudio is safe. We hope to see better days in the near future.”

The Mugello circuit played host to a one-off F1 race in 2020 when Covid wreaked havoc on the calendar outside of Europe and the Middle East.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his 90th career win there, while it was also Ferrari‘s 1000th Grand Prix event.

Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi has also won seven times around the FIA Grade-1 track.

F1 does not return until the US Grand Prix in Texas on October 20, with Lando Norris winning the most recent race in Singapore to close the gap on Championship leader Max Verstappen.

RexRahel Frey’s team released a statement following the incident[/caption]

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