Alan McNish crashes his Audi R18 at Le Mans

Alan McNish crashes his Audi R18 at Le Mans

This weekend is the annual 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race at the famous Circuit de la Sarthe in France, and just one hour into the race driver Allan McNish suffered a violent crash in his Audi R18 race car after coming into contact with a Ferrari 458 Italia near Dunlop curve.

McNish is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not to mention a two-time champion of the American Le Mans Series, so he’s certainly an experienced driver. It appears the Brit was attempting to pass his teammate Timo Bernhard when he suddenly came upon traffic in the corner, including the GTE Class 458 Italia piloted by Anthony Beltoise that he collided with.

The Audi R18 went flying into the air before crashing into a barrier. The damage was quite severe but amazingly McNish managed to walk away from the aftermath.

Note that two other R18s started the race at first and second spots on the grid. McNish, driving for Audi Sport North America along with Tom Kristensen and Dindo Capello, meanwhile, started at fifth on the grid. Watch the crash footage in the video below and then click here for all the details on the R18 Le Mans prototype he was racing.