logo
Driver rushed to hospital after crash at track Verstappen called 'too dangerous'

Driver rushed to hospital after crash at track Verstappen called 'too dangerous'

Daily Mirror23-06-2025
Aston Martin's Rolf Scheibner was taking part in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring when he was involved in a huge crash that left his car on its roof in the middle of the track
Racing driver Rolf Scheibner was rushed to hospital after suffering a horror crash at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring on Sunday. Scheibner was driving for Aston Martin in the race when he was taken out by Porsche's Kevin Estre.
The race was held at a track that four-time Formula One world champion Max Verstappen has branded 'too dangerous'. The infamous course has seen an estimated 170 deaths from both public and private races since it opened in 1927.

Estre was battling with Raffaele Marciello when he came up behind the slower Scheibner in the section between Kallenhard and Wehrseifen. The Frenchman attempted to pass the Aston Martin.

Neither man gave up the position, with the nose of Estre's vehicle making contact with Scheibner. That turned the Aston sideways, before it ploughed into a barrier, with the force of the collision spinning the car upside down before hurtling back across the track.
It eventually came to a rest on its roof but Scheibner was able to escape from the wrecked car. He was then rushed to hospital for precautionary checks and was thankfully released after getting the all clear from medical professionals.
The Nurburgring has hosted 42 F1 Grand Prix but Verstappen delivered a scathing criticism in which he insisted it would not host any more. He told Formula 1 Magazine: He told Formula 1 Magazine: '(A return) is really not going to happen with the cars we have now. One thing is for sure: F1 there will never happen again. Far too dangerous.'
Estre was handed a 100 second penalty by the stewards for his role in the incident, which ensure he missed out on a win. But the Frenchman insisted he had been left with 'nowhere to go'.
'We were catching some traffic and the car in front of me, the GT4, had three blue flags in a row,' Estre said. 'He left the door open for the triple right. I went inside, there was room and then he turned in and then there was no room anymore.

'I saw him coming, I braked, I was fully on the curb but I had nowhere to go. He had a lot of room on the left obviously he didn't see me or he thought I was further behind, which is sad for him.
'I'm happy that he's fine and this is what we we have to face many times in the race. To be honest if the same situation would have come again, I would have done the same so for me there is nothing that I did [wrong].
Estre also criticised the decision to hand him the large penalty, which dropped him down to second. His team had tried to protest the decision but that was thrown out by the stewards.

'It's a racing incident, of course there's always two to have an incident, but for me, I was inside. They took a decision, we tried to protest but they didn't accept the protest,' said Estre.
'The rest is history, we crossed the finish line first but we had this big penalty and we lost the race. So yeah, it's a sad moment for sure for us. I think we really did a great race. One contact in the race ended up ruining our result.
'Nevertheless, it's a great weekend for Manthey, for Porsche, for my two teammates. They did well. We had a great car [and] we were all the way at the front. We didn't hide and in the end, it was not enough.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lewis Hamilton reacts to Christian Horner's Red Bull exit: ‘It was remarkable what he did'
Lewis Hamilton reacts to Christian Horner's Red Bull exit: ‘It was remarkable what he did'

The Independent

timean hour ago

  • The Independent

Lewis Hamilton reacts to Christian Horner's Red Bull exit: ‘It was remarkable what he did'

Lewis Hamilton has paid tribute to Christian Horner after his exit from Red Bull a fortnight ago. Horner, 51, was relieved of his duties as Red Bull team principal after 20 years in charge, in a shock announcement which sent shockwaves through the paddock. Horner won 14 world championships in total across his two decades at the team and has been a fierce rival for Hamilton, both during his time at McLaren and at Mercedes. Now at Ferrari, Hamilton recalled when he first met Horner at Red Bull and acknowledged the 'remarkable' job he did at the team. 'It doesn't change anything in my life,' Hamilton initially said when asked about Horner. He then added: 'It's been incredible to see the progress [at Red Bull]. 'I sat with Christian back in 2005, sat in his office looking to go into GP2, he was at Arden or something. I wouldn't say we hit it off from the get-go! 'To see his progression, it was remarkable what he did with the team. To run an organisation that big and that well takes heart and skill, that's what he brought to the team. 'I wish him all the best.' Hamilton is eyeing his first podium in Ferrari red this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, after a difficult opening 12 races for his new team.

Time machine: full throttle in the stunning Alan Mann Ford Escort replica
Time machine: full throttle in the stunning Alan Mann Ford Escort replica

Top Gear

time2 hours ago

  • Top Gear

Time machine: full throttle in the stunning Alan Mann Ford Escort replica

Time machine: full throttle in the stunning Alan Mann Ford Escort replica An identikit Ford Escort to the one that saw Frank Gardner to the British Saloon Championship in 1968? Sign us up Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. The year is 1968. And if you're a racing driver in the British Saloon Car Championship and your name's not Frank Gardner, bad luck. You just lost. Because to be fast that year, only one thing would do: the Alan Mann prepped Ford Escort. Gardner won all but two of the 11 rounds, in a car in its first year of competition. No car is fast immediately. It takes a while for engineers, mechanics and designers to learn their foibles, extract their potential. Unless you're Alan Mann. An instinctive, innovative engineer, he'd set up by himself in 1962 and two years later he'd won the contract to be Ford's official racing partner in Europe, running everything from Mustangs and Falcons to Cortinas, GT40s and this legendary Group 5 Escort. Advertisement - Page continues below Group 5 was as close as things got to a no limits touring car. This car's iconic bubble arches were crafted to cope with fatter rubber, all new multi-link rear suspension was designed, the steering column was realigned so it projected at a straighter angle and the steering rack was actually housed inside the engine crossmember. Apparently this car had a fair amount in common with the GT40s Mann also campaigned. Rounding out the radical package was a 1.8-litre Lotus Twin Cam, developing around 230bhp. The result was a small, light, well balanced and fantastically eager racing car. Painted in Mann's iconic red and gold colours it was as sweet to look at as it was to drive. Few cars look as good in a corner as this one. Photography: Olgun Kordal Ford supplied Alan Mann with six cars that season. At the end of the following year, four were returned, one had been converted to a different specification, and one – the famous, championship winning XOO 349F – was left with Mann. And there it remained. Alan died in 2012, but his son Henry continues to maintain and campaign the car. This isn't it, though. What you're looking at here is an exact nut and bolt replica. The original was stripped down with every component scanned to reverse engineer it precisely as it was. The only way to tell it apart from the original when I line them up alongside each other is that only one has a roll cage. The new one – it's now a safety requirement for historic racing. But this isn't a one-off – the plan is to build 24 identikit replicas. There's a pleasing circular story here. Just as Alan Mann was Ford's official racing partner back in the 1960s, so has Boreham Motor Works (which now owns Alan Mann Racing) recently become Ford's official restomod partner. You may have heard about other fast Fords it has in the pipeline – a reimagined Group B RS200 and a £295,000 roadgoing fast Escort with a 295bhp 2.1-litre twin cam good for 10,000rpm. Advertisement - Page continues below But this isn't a restomod, it's a non-road legal period piece that Henry very much hopes owners will choose to race. It's what it was designed for after all. And what it feels like. I want to start slowly but the car would rather I didn't. It might be an old design, but it's a racing car, it's only got one speed and it's not 'pitlane pootle'. The racing twin plate clutch needs revs to pull away, first can be hard to find, there's plenty of vibration and as I trundle out on to the track it honestly feels like all the wheels are pulling in different directions. For the first few hundred yards I wondered at the wisdom of an exact recreation. And thereafter I had the time of my life. As with all racing cars, it needs to be used hard, and then it just works. Get some pressure in the suspension, some load in the engine and you feel the whole car snap to attention. As you'd hope it's a period correct driving experience. This is not a car in which all you do is accelerate, brake and steer and it responds with ruthless precision. You're busy the whole time, juggling the steering and throttle, rowing the gearlever around the four (yes, only four) gate box, planning the next corner. Even driving in a straight line requires concentration – the Alan Mann 68 Edition (to give this one its proper name) prefers to be turning. Skip 15 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 15 Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email* I assumed my steering inputs would be large and sweeping, that it would settle satisfyingly in corners but that's not the case initially. It's light – just 795kg without fluids – and the wheelbase is short, so every single twitch you make has an instant and marked impact on your speed and trajectory. There's nothing lazy or languid about it and being quick in it isn't about armfuls of opposite lock and big angles, it's about playing with the balance at the margins. The brakes are way more potent than you might expect, but this is not a car you trail brake all the way to the apex. Instead you roll off the brakes sooner, turning in and then immediately back on the power to adjust line and trajectory. Great fun, but it was a little fidgety through long, fast corners so, at Henry's suggestion, we soften the rear dampers off. It's a transformation. Through the quick curves that define Thruxton the Escort now squats smoothly down on its outside rear wheel and just powers through, nose up, tail down, all the pressure seemingly through that one wheel. Those pictures we've all seen of touring cars back then four wheel drifting through corners, almost waggling the unloaded front wheel in the air? This is what it feels like and it's utterly brilliant. The full 1960s experience. This is a special car. Wonderfully vivid and fantastically engaging, one with genuine historic importance Massively absorbing, way more entertaining than any modern fast, focused 'n' flat racer. This is a car that uses its suspension differently, that isn't designed to keep the platform as level and neutral as possible at all times, but instead lets you move the pressure around, so you can use the weight to help you uncork the engine's full potential. The four cylinder barks loudly and aggressively inside, ringing through my period helmet. It's an eager beaver hard charger, but 205bhp on the UK's fastest racetrack means a lot of time spent flat in fourth. But still, 205bhp from 1.8 litres on Weber carbs with only two valves per cylinder? That's impressive. Through the slower corners it's the throttle's instant response and its effect not only on speed but balance that is so notable. And the fact you're forever manipulating gears and trying to finesse heel 'n' toe downshifts via the sharp clutch and a gearlever skinnier than most column stalks. The shift is imprecise at low speeds, a bit vague, but once up and running I never missed – or even fluffed – a shift. This is a special car. Wonderfully vivid and fantastically engaging, one with genuine historic importance and a cracking back story. The cost will be terrifying, but it's vanishingly rare to drive something that's not just period correct, but correct down to the tiniest detail, that is so emphatically authentic and true to what's gone before. It put me in a time capsule. The thought of lining up alongside a bunch of other touring cars and tearing strips off each other might just be one of the most amusing things you could do in a car.

Gordon on earlier Hearts exit interest and Romanov claims
Gordon on earlier Hearts exit interest and Romanov claims

The Herald Scotland

time2 hours ago

  • The Herald Scotland

Gordon on earlier Hearts exit interest and Romanov claims

After initial interest from clubs, he had signed a lucrative contract to remain at Tynecastle. However, it was becoming clear his abilities were elite-level, by this point the Scotland number one, and his exit was inevitable. A transfer offer from Italian side Palermo was rejected and there were links to Celtic, Rangers, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Sunderland, among others. In a recent podcast appearance, madcap former owner Romanov had claimed that, at the time of the new contract, he had given Gordon a blank cheque to remain at the club and fend off interest from Celtic. He also claimed that he signed off on the deal despite the goalkeeper responding with a sum that dwarfed anything else at Hearts, or indeed in Scottish football. The 42-year-old, now in his second spell at Hearts and about to receive a testimonial match against the Black Cats on Saturday, has had his say on what really happened. Speaking on the Scarves Around the Funnel podcast, he said: "There's a small element of truth in that, but not a great deal from my side. "Hearts made me a good contract offer to stay. It wasn't Celtic that were the interested party at that point, so that's wrong. But that makes a nice story because that's where I ended up going to play. So, it wasn't Celtic. There was another offer on the table. And Hearts more than matched it. "It wasn't as if they went and blew the budget for everybody or for a huge amount from within Scottish football. I mean, that's just not true. I earned more at Celtic when I did eventually go there than what I earned at Hearts. "So the amounts he's talking about or trying to refer to are probably a little bit inflated, or just maybe just leaving it to people's imagination, but it is not quite, not quite as large as he's making out." Asked which club the interest really came from, he went on: "It was Rangers. So he's got the wrong half of Glasgow. They were interested at that point, but nothing ever happened there. "I was happy to sign at Hearts. They made an equivalent offer and there was no point moving to Rangers at that point when I was earning the same, playing for Hearts, who I always wanted to play for and who I felt were really making big strides to try and bridge that gap and challenge for titles and for European football. So for me, that was a fairly easy decision." The Arsenal interest appeared concrete, especially when then boss Arsene Wenger was quoted as being a big fan of the player. At the time, the legendary Frenchman said Gordon had "presence and good handling and looks a very good goalkeeper to me." Read more: So, did the Premier League giants ever make any contact behind the scenes? "No, actually. That was the extent of it," Gordon insists. "There was no offer or anything like that. "So that was just a bit of stuff in the media really that they were chatting about, but nothing, nothing concrete. Nothing ever came of that." Sunderland was the eventual destination for the Scotland star, at that point aged 24. At the time, Aston Villa were reported to have made a last-ditch attempt to persuade him to change his mind and head to the Midlands instead. That was true, Gordon has now revealed, but there was never any chance of him changing his mind. "The Villa thing was true," he admitted. "They were looking for a new goalkeeper that summer as well. They eventually signed Scott Carson. But that was a possibility. "I was already in the room negotiating with Sunderland when that call came in and they were trying to get me out of that and get me down to Birmingham to discuss things with them. But Sunderland wanted to do the deal there and then. Not let us out of the building before it was signed. "So they were very keen and showing all the interest. So I was more than happy to stay there and sign the contract and begin my Premier League career there."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store