Ten spectators were injured, including one fatally, in an accident which happened around 11h00 on Saturday, 28 March 2015, less than an hour after the start of the ADAC Westfalenfahrt, the opening round of the 2015 VLN Nürburgring Endurance Championship, held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Andy Gehrmann, 49-year old Dutchman from Heerlen, died at the circuit’s on-site medical center after the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 #23 of Jann Mardenborough-Kuzuki Hoshino, driven by the first, flipped up and careered off the track, over the fencing, and into the crowd. The car took off along the Flugplatz section of the track, at an estimated speed of 200 km/h (125 mi/h), and slammed into the barriers, before ending upside down into the spectators’ area.
The race, which was supposed to last four hours, was immediately stopped to give the emergency crew quick access to the circuit and wasn’t restarted. This was reported to be the first fatal accident involving spectators, during a VLN Endurance Championship event. Among the injured people, two men were taken to hospital with minor wounds and broken bones, as was the British racing driver Jann Mardenborough, 23-year-old, who spent the following day for observation and treatment. Ten others were treated at the track.
The accident occurred at the “Quiddelbacher Höhe”, one of the most infamous jump crests of the Nordschleife, almost at the same place as Manfred Winkelhock, who in 1980 underwent a blow-over at the top of the crest during a Formula 2 race, due to a damaged front wing.
The Nissan GT Academy works driver Jann Mardenborough, whose father Steve was active for 21 years as a professional footballer in England, was considered a major racing talent. In 2011 he fought off 90,000 fellow video gamers to win a competition, the so-called GT Academy by Nissan and Sony, which launched his career in motorsport. Brought up in Cardiff, Wales, Mardenborough has been a member of the Red Bull’s junior development program. In 2014 he won a race in the GP3 Series, driving for Arden International, and also competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship. It is believed that his Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3’s accident was similar to those of the Mercedes-Benz CLR of Mark Webber and Peter Dumbreck at Le Mans in 1999, with the car becoming airborne on its own as it crested the ridge at Flugplatz.
R.I.P Andy Gehrmann.
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The drivers real name is jann mardenborough
It is literally suicidal to stand right in the spot where cars impact in case of trouble. 🙁
Dear, oh dear. I could not possibly live with myself knowing I had killed an unsuspecting spectator.
It has to be said as well that the spector stood in a part of the enclosure that was closed to the public, but there was a hole in the fence that evryone climbed through to get closer. I know because I did that very thing at the same place the year before
Featured in the gt academy fil about jann
This is now a move
At every racing event it says racing is dandrous
Helmuth marko f2 1974
RIP
The drivers know their dangerous work, with the death always possible. But the spectators no, it was a terrible mistake by the organization.
Oh dear! This car is flying through the air like a Carrera car when giving full throttle into a narrow corner! :O :O
After that, the Nordschleifen Permit was installed. So no one ever could drive a GT3 car at the nordschleife without any knowlege of the track. Only that caused the problem.
I will never forget this day in my life. Rest in peace Andy. Glad we all got out of this unhurt. 🙏🏼
Who come from the movie to se if the crash real 😮
What an odd place to be sitting ….. right ahead of Flugplatz 😵💫
Came here while watching Gran Turismo, to show the people I came with, this happened in real life.
Isn’t that Jann merse boroughs crash?
https://youtu.be/woz59cA1rtg
They referenced this in the new Gran Turismo movie
Anybody notice the gran Turismo movie trailer referencing this rq
Fuck 😮😢
Das Auto hat Unterluft bekommen! 😮
Grass, guard rail, hill, and tall fence, still not enough.
Looks like a Matchbox car from underneath.
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definitely safer inside the car than outside. spectating is the most dangerous part of motorsport
Good grief that’s brutal!
That proves the Gran Turismo is spot on when it comes to those times when the car goes up in the air just the car doesn't flip it lands back down
El ser humano nunca va a terminar de aprender sobre sus propias tragedias!! Ese circuito que la F1 dejo de usar luego del accidente de Lauda en 1976 es usada actualmente por autos más veloces que los de aquellas épocas. Esa loma dónde el coche despegó en vuelo al público es suficiente para prohibir las carreras allí.
RIP
Being a spectator at a racing event can be as much danger as the one drivers themselves are involved. 👍✌
That was horrifying. It's a miracle that only one died and that the driver survived. Rest in peace to the poor spectator.
Can't believe the driver survived !
I’ve never been on that track but have seen lot of videos on Instagram. Not sure if still do but cars and motorcycles are on it at same time.😮
One gust of wind and a slight hill and you become an airplane! This is why I don't like the skid plates underneath the cars underneath the cars when they are this fast.
I can only guess that when they went airborne and were looking at the sky, racing was the last thing on their minds. It's a miracle that was not another 1955 Le Mans like tragedy.
Already starting to get airborne before getting to the peak of the rise wow! The person taking the last footage is not human that car literally bounced over them and he kept filming it!! RIP to the poor spectator Andy Gehrmann