VIDEO: Two LMP2 Le Mans crashes that need explaining; Big smash for Aston Martin

Ollie Barstow's picture
21 Aug 2021
Sophia Floersch - Richard Mille Racing.png

The 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours has seen its fair share of incidents in tricky conditions, but there are some in particular that will need some explaining first

United Autosports and the Richard Mille Racing team separately suffered two alarming accidents shortly before the 6 hour mark of the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours that will likely lead to a few awkward questions for certain parties.

With sporadic showers of rain over the course of the race’s first quarter would lead to a series of spins and off-track excursions for drivers across all four classes, but in particular the 23-strong LMP2 field .

Incidents weren’t just limited to the stragglers either with arguably pre-race favourites Jota probably ending its hopes of glory when Anthony Davidson suffered this strange over-corrected spin that left the British team’s car in an unusual position well clear to the left of the normally flat right-hand kink leading up to Turn 1.

Formerly a Toyota LMP1 driver, Davidson’s error threw away hard work completed by Antonio Felix Da Costa, who had turned Jota’s pole position into a clear lead during his stint. 

However, Jota is still continuing on, unlike the all-female Richard Mille Racing line-up which saw its Le Mans cut short in a double dose of cruel luck when Sophia Floersch was forced into the barriers by a spinning G-Drive ahead that would come across her bow and force her into the wall.

Worse was to come soon after when Floersch was attempting to engage drive and was rolling across the circuit under a slow zone when she was t-boned solidly unexpectedly by the Racing Team India Eurasia car.

Elsewhere, the atmosphere in the United Autosports pit box is likely to be a little frosty after Manuel Maldonado managed to lose control at Turn 1 and go bouncing across the gravel trap and back onto the circuit… except this was right in the path of the sister #23 car. Of 61 cars on track, Maldonado managed to come from a long way back and still take out his team-mate.

Finally, Manuel Gomes was lucky to walk away uninjured from this high-speed smash on the run into Indianapolis after possibly being tapped by a prototype. Sending the Aston Martin deep into the barriers, it took some time to extricate the Portuguese rider but he was eventually released even if the works effort became the first official retirement at just over the 3 hour mark.