The Circuit Zandvoort has seen its first crash amid ongoing renovations for F1 Dutch GP, to be held in May, as a Porsche 991 rolls over.
The Zandvoort circuit was re-opened earlier this week when Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen came down to drive the RB8 in the presence of Jos, Arie Luyendyk and more. The Dutchman got the first taste of the new banking as well.
While the circuit is still to be fully completed but lower grade races can be held as this weekend, they are hosting the, ‘The Final 4 – Zandvoort Reborn’ which is the final round of the Winter Endurance Championship. It is the first event since the circuit was closed.
A video of a Porsche 991 rolling over emerged at the Hunserug (Turn 5) corner as marshals are seen ducking amid the construction sand. The green-liveried car is from Division 1’s #140 JW Raceservice 1 which has Bart and Huub van Eijndhoven and Jaap van Lagen.
It is not clear as to who was driving but sporadic information suggests that the Porsche 991 had a contact with a BMW E30 – again it is not known as to which team’s BMW it was. The video just captured the roll over onto sand and the car being transported into the truck.
The good news was that the driver did manage to come out of the car as seen in the video as the marshals attended him but there is no official information available at this stage regarding the extent of injury, if any. The race was halted as can be seen.
UPDATE: Team manager Jochem van de Wiel updated on the crash, where he confirmed the driver to be Huub can Eijndhoven as he was hit by a Division IV car, which then sent the Porsche airborne and over the side barrier. He added that the driver is OK.
He stated: “An update our driver Huub van Eijndhoven has crashed very hard [at Zandvoort]. He was crashed by a slower participant, who thereby lost control of his car, and thus knocked off our Porsche with all its consequences.
“Our driver makes it is well examined in the hospital and our car is Total loose unfortunately. The position we had had brought us the winter championship, but it was not to be. I am bombarded with apps and can’t and won’t answer them all, so this message is.”
Here’s the video of the crash at Zandvoort:
Here’s Max Verstappen driving the RB8 at Circuit Zandvoort
[Note: Team update translated by Jeroen van Kesteren]