The Macau Grand Prix’s street circuit is not to blame for a teen driver’s horrific crash on Sunday, her team boss said after the accident raised concerns about safety standards.
Seventeen-year-old Sophia Floersch’s Formula Three car catapulted spectacularly over safety barriers during the race, fracturing the Van Amersfoort Racing driver’s spine and injuring four others.
However, despite the horrifying crash, her team principle refused to blame the historic Macau circuit.
“I don’t think the accident was Macau-related,” Frits van Amersfoort told Autosport.com, saying that it could have happened on other tracks.
“We also race in Pau [in France] and F1 also races on all kinds of street circuits. Macau is a special track, everyone knows that,” Van Amersfoort said. “The contradiction is that everyone knows the dangers, but most drivers also say that Macau is the most beautiful track in the world. That indicates how strange it sometimes is.”
The 6.2km temporary circuit features long straights with speeds of about 275kph, coupled with tight, blind corners.
Three racers have died in Macau in recent years: motorcyclists Daniel Hegarty and Luis Carreira — last year and 2012 respectively — and Hong Kong driver Phillip Yau, also in 2012.
Charlie Whiting, race director for the International Motoring Federation, which is investigating the crash, also defended Macau.
“Macau is not a dangerous circuit,” Whiting said. “In common with all street circuits the incident rate is higher than a normal circuit, but there is no evidence to say that the circuit is dangerous.”
Investigators know the “initial cause” for Floersch’s loss of control, but it is too soon to say what caused the accident, Whiting added.
As with most urban circuits, the roads are narrow and there are few safety exits, leaving little room for error.
“However, where cars do hit the walls it is generally at a very low angle which imparts lower forces into the car and driver,” Whiting said. “The guardrails, crash barriers and debris fences have been systematically upgraded over the past few years with significant improvements in a number of areas.”
Floersch’s car lost wheels after a collision down a high-speed straight and then bounced off a curb, clipping Japanese racer Sho Tsuboi’s vehicle and flying backward into a hut housing media and officials.
The German underwent marathon surgery on Monday, but despite her ordeal, she has said she is determined to race again.
A team statement said her nerve functions are reacting well, and that it took doctors more than nine hours to repair Floersch’s fractured vertebra and remove a bone splinter, which was sitting dangerously close to her spinal cord.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
Taiwanese tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jan Zielinski of Poland on Friday advanced to the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon, just one step away from clinching their first mixed doubles title at the tournament. Hsieh and Zielinski, who won the Australian Open title earlier this year and who had reached the semi-finals at the French Open, battled past second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand 7-6, (7/0), 6-3. In the first set, the Taiwanese-Polish duo saved a set point, pushing the set into a tiebreaker. They clinched the set by winning the tiebreaker with seven straight points. The duo
CHALLENGE SET: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Poland’s Jan Zielinski are to play against New Zealand’s Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe in the mixed doubles semi-finals Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her Polish partner, Jan Zielinski, on Thursday advanced to the mixed doubles semi-final at Wimbledon in a tight battle that ended in a super tiebreaker. The seventh-seeded duo, who won the Australian Open mixed doubles title earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the French Open, needed 125 minutes to beat Britain’s Jamie Murray and the US’ Taylor Townsend 7-6, 6-7 (10-5). Hsieh and Zielinski took the first set with a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker and seemed poised to close out the match in the second set tiebreaker when they took a 4-0 lead. With the Taiwan-Poland
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super