Owing to the narrow, tight, and twisty nature of the track, the Guia Circuit in Macau is largely regarded as the Monaco of South-East Asia. During the Sands China Macau GT Cup, there was a scary accident. The warm-up session for the Macau GP was well underway when TSRT’s Ya Qi Zhang brought out a red flag.
His Audi R8 LMS speared into the barrier at high speed, which tore off the front wheels of the car. After clobbering the barrier, the trashed car spun at least six times before coming to a stop. Luckily, the red flag was thrown and an ambulance was scrambled immediately.
Ya Qi Zhang survived this horrific looking accident in Warm Up of the Sands China Macau GT Cup with three broken ribs, a collapsed lung and other chest injuries. It's amazing that Zhang didn't suffer any leg or back injuries and it shows the safety of the Audi R8 LMS.#MacauGP pic.twitter.com/HVOfJ8C259
— Vincent Bruins 🧡 (@VincentJBruins) November 20, 2021
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According to reports, Zhang came away with three broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a few chest injuries. On the bright side, he is still alive, conscious, and will soon be on the mend. It is pretty much a testament of the R8 LMS’s safety standards, as it protected him from worse injuries. In the worst-case scenario, the Chinese driver’s legs could have been crushed by the impact.
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Did the Macau GP race resume after the accident?
Of course, the red flag took some time to go because the marshals had to rescue Zhang, tow away the car, and repair the barrier. As a result, the opening race was further delayed to 3:50 PM local time. When the race finally kicked off, reigning Macau GT Cup winner Ye Hongli took a comfortable win for TORO Racing.
From pole position, he held onto the race lead and fended off Darryl O’Young to win the race. However, it is worth mentioning that the race got declared early when O’Young skidded off the track and crashed. As it turned out, Tang Ruo Bin retired earlier in the race and dropped oil on the track.
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As a result, officials announced that the race will not restart, and the results were declared. Luckily for O’Young, he was still able to keep second place, due to a countback to the previous lap. Now, Hongli and O’Young will share the front row for tomorrow’s race.
READ MORE: Sophia Floersch: 2018 F3 Macau GP Crash Survivor Wins The Laureus World Sports Award
