2 days ago
Le Mans star leaps out of car and punches and kicks rival's motor in wild scenes
The Road to Le Mans Race 2 was marred by a violent outburst from one of the drivers, who leaped out of his car and attacked his rival on the first lap of the race after a collision
A startling clash between two Ferraris sparked chaos on lap one of the Road to Le Mans Race 2. The Michelin Le Mans Cup contest was thrown into disarray as the blue No. 23 and red No. 21 Ferraris tangled instantly.
The No. 23 Biogas Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3, driven by Josep Mayola Comadira, collided with Gino-Generoso Forgione's No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 293 right at the scrappy race start.
Comadira rammed into the back of Forgione's vehicle around a curve where many competitors braked suddenly, putting an end to both of their race ambitions, much to the annoyance of the Swiss driver at Le Mans.
Following the crash, the cars lay stationary trackside. However, Forgione then burst from his vehicle and stomped towards his opponent's car, which had been flung upwards during the collision, reports the Express.
Enraged, Forgione then started launching kicks at the No. 23 car's door before battering its window with his fists. His assault on the windows and roof continued until race officials intervened and steered him away.
"It was not a moment of which he will be particularly proud of," observed TNT Sports commentator Martin Haven about the unbelievable fracas.
"As you can understand, racing at Les Mans and getting tagged out in the first corner is not going to leave you feeling very happy," he continued.
"The problem is, everyone is checking up there because of the spinning Porsche. He has spun because he is checking up because the cars in front are slowing down dramatically."
Graham Goodwin, also on commentary, responded: "It is not giving Gino-Generoso Forgione any credit at all for the behaviour at the end there, but he will feel that he checked up and the car behind did not.
"That I think is a knock-on effect of the argy-bargy at the front of the field. Yeah, not very happy is the international sign language there."
A safety car was drawn before the support race for the 24 Hours of Le Mans restarted, as a sizeable clean-up was required after the many incidents that occurred during a crash-ridden opening lap.
Before the race began, issues prevented the No. 59 Racing Spirit of Le Mans Aston Martin driven by Anthony McIntosh from starting. Meanwhile, CLX chose to replace the nose of No. 97, which required it to start from the pit lane.
This race was the second Le Mans Cup contest, with the first being held on Friday. In the GT3 category, in which both the No. 21 and No. 23 cars were striving to win on Saturday, the No. 65 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 claimed victory.
Lena Buhler and Mattéo Quintarelli in the No. 20 23 Events Racing Ligier JS would go on to win the race overall, and Buhler became the first woman to achieve such a feat in a Road to Le Mans contest.
