THE WORLD OF motorsport is in mourning after confirmation that English racer Dan Wheldon has died from injuries sustained in a crash at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The 33-year-old reigning Indianapolis 500 winner was taking part in the IndyCar series finale when he was involving in a 15-car crash, which started when two cars touched tyres on lap 11.
Several cars collided and caught fire and though Wheldon had start at the back of the grid, he had no time to avoid the chaos and was sent flying through the air and into the catch fence on the outside wall.
Once the 2005 series champion was removed from his car, he was immediately flown to the University Medical Centre in Las Vegas. However, staff were unable to save his life.
“IndyCar is very sad to announce Dan Wheldon passed away from unsurvivable injuries,” Series chief Randy Bernard announced two hours later.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Dan and his family. IndyCar, its drivers and teams have decided to end the race. In honor of Dan Wheldon, the drivers have decided to do a five-lap salute to in his honour.”
Speaking about the accident scene, Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. The debris we all had to drive through the lap later, it looked like a war scene from ‘Terminator’ or something. So it was scary.”
Wheldon recorded 16 IndyCar victories during his career in the US and first won the Indianapolis 500 – a personal ambition of his – in 2005, before repeating the feat again earlier this year.
He did not have the financial backing for a full-time drive in 2011, despite his win at the Brickyard, and spent much of his time in recent months testing the new, safer cars to be raced in the sport next year.