Anthony Davidson's Massive Accident At The 2012 24 Heures Du Mans (24 Hours of Le Mans)

The 2012 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the 80th anniversary edition of the greatest race in the world - sorry Indianapolis, Bathurst and Monaco - and much has changed since the very first time the twice-around-the-clock French classic began. One thing that has not, and most probably never will, is the age-old problem out on the Circuit de la Sarthe: traffic.

Last year, it was the Audi of Alan McNish involved in a massive accident early in the race after a bold overtaking move on a Ferrari GT car, just over the rise, beyond the Dunlop Curves. Hours later, McNish's team mate, Mike Rockenfeller, had a run-in with a sister car from the same Ferrari team, and, suddenly, thanks to slower traffic (and some questionable driving on both sides) two of the three bullets in the Audi gun were gone.

Fast forward a year, and it was the Toyota prototype driven by Brit Anthony Davidson, who found himself in the unenviable position of being wrapped up - and caught up - in the mess at least partly-created by a slower Ferrari driver. It seems the Prancing Horse cars attract trouble at Le Mans. The Toyota man was run into by Pierguiseppe Perazzini, causing the prototype to flip over the GT racer, and both cars thundered into the tire barriers. The impact speaks for itself (apolgies for the German, from the live broadcast).



Incredible. Ten years ago - or maybe even less than that - you would be honestly worried that one or both drivers would not walk away. It was a relief to see Davidson climb out of the cockpit of the Toyota, though he laid down on the road after, and good to see Perazzini escape his car, too. It says a lot about the way these cars are built now. They're almost bulletproof.

On the flip side, blame should (and undoubtedly will be) attributed solely to Perazzini who didn't do what the slower classes need to do - move over and allow the much-faster car through to continue what had been a surprisingly good run for the Toyota to that point. Instead, he ran into the back of the Toyota, and caused the racing world to hold their breath as the terrifying pictures were beamed around the world.

Very, very lucky that things weren't much worse. A shame for Toyota, a shame for Anthony Davidson, who will watch the rest of the race from a Le Mans-area hospital, with a broken back to rehab, and hopefully a lesson learnt for the rest of the GT field (and the LMP2 field, for that matter) in giving the fastest cars on the racetrack a clean run. Banzai moves aren't cool.