Hansen recovered from French crash

Super1600 racer praises medical care, but is not certain of going to Hell.

Norwegian Super1600 racer Anders Hansen is in a race against time to repair his VW Polo for his home event after the car was badly damaged in a third-heat crash in last month’s French round of the championship.

Hansen’s Polo spun into the barriers at the first corner of the Circuit des Ducs at Essay, the driver then left to remove himself from the car despite the proximity to the incident of one of the circuit’s intervention crews. The French event was the first run in the ERC without course marshals on every post, a system of lights replacing flag signals while three intervention vehicles were stationed at points around the circuit, the theory being that they could react faster and be better equipped than traditional course marshals.

Hansen’s incident was the only one of the weekend in which a driver required medical assistance, but the seriousness of his crash did not appear to be immediately realised by officials. “I was dizzy in the car because of the spin and then a hard hit on the barriers,” said Hansen, “It was difficult to try and get out of the car, I could see one man nearby but he did not come and help, he was waving and seemed angry that I was not getting out. I thought I had to try and get out by myself but when I managed to get out of the car I passed out. Then they came to help me.”

While the initial response to Hansen’s crash may have been slow, the Norwegian praised the medical crew that then cared for him. “I think it’s better to have some marshals on the track, but when the doctor and the ambulance came to me they did a great job, I have to say that, they were fantastic and looked after me perfectly. I was with them at the circuit for about an hour and they checked everything before they let me go. I’m also really pleased that we use the Hans device now because I think it would have been much worse without that,” said Hansen.

While the driver is now recovered from the crash in France, the car is still far from being race fit in time for the Norwegian ERC round in Hell. “The biggest problem is that my car is based on a real Super1600 Polo from VW Motorsport and  the parts for that car are very expensive and also difficult to get now. We have some of the parts that we need and the rest are being made now but there was quite a lot of damage to the suspension, gearbox, driveshafts and body. I do not have a big budget so it’s not easy to repair. I’m not sure if the car will be ready for the race at Lånke but I’m trying as hard as I can to get there because it’s great to have a championship race in Norway again and I want to be part of it.”

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