The Daytona 24 Hours race was called to a temporary halt on Saturday after a very serious accident between the Daytona Prototype driven b...
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The Daytona 24 Hours race was called to a temporary halt on Saturday after a very serious accident between the Daytona Prototype driven by Memo Gidley and the GT Le Mans class Ferrari of Matteo Malucelli.
Malucelli was removed from his car quickly but it took some time for Gidley to be extricated from the badly damaged wreckage of his vehicle when the race was red-flagged. Both were then immediately transported to the nearby Halifax hospital.
Several hours later, a statement from race organisers explained that both drivers were awake and communicating.
"Memo Gidley and Matteo Malucelli have been admitted to Halifax Health. They are awake and communicating and are undergoing further observation," read the statement.
Gidley, in the much faster GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing prototype which had been qualified on pole by Alex Gurney, hit the Risi Competzione Ferrari very heavily, after leaving the International Horseshoe (turn three) before the kink at turn four.
Malucelli's car appeared to have lost drive and he had pulled over to the drivers' left when he was hit by Gidley, who would have been looking for maximum acceleration as the prototypes take the kink flat out, but may have been unsighted by the sun which was beginning to set and shines directly into the cockpit at this part of the circuit. In the wake of the accident several drivers confirmed that the glare in the cockpit was specifically a factor at that time, on that part of the racecourse.
Gidley was on his 92nd lap after 2 hours and 49 minutes in the race, which consists of 67 cars across four different classes of varying top speeds.
Initially, a full course caution was announced, but shortly afterwards, with rescue workers working on Gidley's car, it was red-flagged. The race was restarted under yellow flags behind the safety car just over an hour after the incident, with full racing restarted six laps later. After just under seven hours of competition the Corvette Daytona Prototype with Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel was at the head of the field having completed 173 laps.
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