Henry Surtees killed in F2 accident

Grim.

Henry Surtees, the son of former F1 World Champion John Surtees, has died following an accident during the second FIA Formula Two Championship race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

The 18-year-old was involved in a freak accident during the race when he was struck on the head by an errant wheel that had broken away from the car of Jack Clarke after he went off into the barriers on the exit of Westfield.

The impact saw Surtees knocked unconscious and his car went off the road into the tyre barriers at Sheene before coming to a halt on the side of the circuit. With the race red-flagged, Surtees was treated by medical teams at the scene before being taken to the medical centre where he was prepared for transfer by air ambulance to the regional trauma centre at the Royal London Hospital.

Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Surtees died from his injuries earlier this evening.

Born in 1991, Surtees soon started following in the footsteps of his father – the only man to win world titles on four-wheels and two-wheels – when he launched a karting career at the age of eight and rose through the ranks to secure the Junior Gearbox crown in 2005.

The following year saw Surtees move into car racing with an entry into the Ginetta Junior Championship, finishing third in the standings at the conclusion of his maiden season outside of karts.

His career took a turn towards single-seaters in 2007 with an entry into the final year of the Formula BMW UK Championship where he finished seventh in the standings after a campaign that saw him pick up eight podium finishes and victory at Donington Park. Surtees also finished second in the rookie standings behind Swede Marcus Ericsson. As well as his FBMW commitments, Surtees contested the final two races of the Formula Renault UK Championship and the annual Winter Series prior to a full-season assault on Formula Renault in 2008.

That season saw Surtees finish twelfth in the championship standings, while he also made his debut in Formula 3 with an entry in the National Class for the season finale at Donington Park. Running with the same Carlin team that had taken him into single-seaters in Formula BMW, Surtees celebrated his debut with class victory in the opening race before following it up with second in race two. A second assault on the Formula Renault Winter Series saw Surtees take second in the standings behind James Calado.

With F2 returning to the motorsport arena for the 2009 season, Surtees took the opportunity to move up the motorsport ladder. After taking his maiden pole position at Brno, Surtees had secured his first podium finish in the opening race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

very sad R.I.P

Max Power1

RIP

Never nice to see a racing driver fatally injured

amacachi

RIP.

EvilMonkey

RIP, Thoughts are with his family.

projectmayhem

Stark reminder of how dangerous any kind of motorsport can be.

RIP

Frank Bullitt

Very sad to see this in Motorsport again.

RIP

Galen

RIP

speedscot

So tragic. RIP Henry. I'm sure with your heritage you would have excelled.

blackiebest

RIP, thoughts are with his family.

Speedway

very sad RIP henry.

here is the crash at brands hatch for anybody that didn't see it. (there's nothing gruesome or graphic etc in the video but if you are sensitive to this kind of subject it might be best not to watch it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTDiYS1NVW4

SouperComputer

RIP Henry.

We lost someone at Road America last weekend too, at one stage I thought I'd seen the guy go off in front of me, but turns out it was a different race. Sad nonetheless. Brake failure seemingly coming into turn 8.

amacachi

LIGHTNING wrote: »

It was such a random event too, you could race you entire life and never even see such a thing happen on the track. Just at the wrong place at the wrong time poor chap.

So many fatal crashes look pretty innocuous compared to others when people walk away. So sad.

amacachi

LIGHTNING wrote: »

True just look at how many McNish has walked away from, or even Zanardi for that matter.

Or even Kyle Bush a coupla weeks back http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fz1bM0HUtM just under 2 minutes in. Everyone absolutely fine.

Dale Earnhardt and even Senna's crash to an extent didn't look all that dramatic. So bloody sad, wish I hadn't watched the video tbh.

afatbollix

with a co-driver killed in bulgaria and a spectator killed in poland and then the racer killed at the kells road races it was a very bad weekend for motorsport hopefully it was only a bad weekend and not a bad month...

Ghost Train

Looks like he was very unlucky. Very sad

tommiejoie

He was so unlucky, such an unfortunate accident. Very sad for everyone in motorsport.

speedscot

LIGHTNING wrote: »

True just look at how many McNish has walked away from, or even Zanardi for that matter.

Was that meant to be funny?

:0