It happened during training and, fortunately, none of those affected were seriously injured.
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During the first training session of Turismo Carretera at the Enrique "Quique" Freile Autodrome in El Calafate, a serious accident occurred involving drivers Gastón Mazzacane and Augusto Carinelli.
The incident happened on a fast curve where several vehicles lost control due to the low grip of the track, caused by the "dirt" (more precisely stones) lifted by cars that had previously gone off track. Carinelli, attempting to maneuver his Toyota under these conditions, spun and stopped in the middle of the circuit. Mazzacane, coming from behind in his Chevrolet with reduced visibility due to the dust, couldn't avoid the collision and hit Carinelli's vehicle laterally.
Mazzacane y Carinelli fueron los principales afectados
After the impact, both drivers were immediately assisted and taken to the SAMIC Hospital in El Calafate for medical examinations. After undergoing nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the spine and skull, Dr. Rodolfo Balinotti, doctor of the Asociación Corredores de Turismo Carretera (ACTC), reported that Carinelli suffered a cerebral contusion, which caused a brief loss of consciousness, while Mazzacane presented a cervical and trapezius trauma. Fortunately, both are stable and lucid, but, as a precaution, they will remain under observation and will not participate in the rest of the competition.
Hours after the crash, Carinelli took to social media to bring some calm to the situation. “Thank God we're fine after such a big hit. It was a huge scare. Jalaf goes, Fain goes, Vázquez goes, and I go. The four of us go off because of the stones, with the difference that I end up first, and then Gastón gets sideways because of the stone and we hit each other sideways,” he stated, explaining firsthand the details of what happened.
Number 77 also thanked those who assisted the drivers and regretted that his presence was interrupted by the accident. “It was a huge hit. I want to thank God that we're alive and Dr. Balinotti, the whole group of people, the firefighters, and all the hospital staff, who treated us wonderfully and did all the tests. So here we are, happy because we're fine and sad about the car. It's a shame to come from so far and have this happen on the first lap of a training session... But well, that's racing,” lamented the Chaco driver.
El choque dejo gravemente dañados a los autos
Meanwhile, both drivers' vehicles sustained significant damage, especially Mazzacane's Chevrolet Camaro, which was rendered unusable. Besides the obvious bodywork damage, the chassis was twisted, so for the next race in Neuquén, the driver will have to present with a new car.
Beyond this crash, the practice session and the qualifying test were able to continue normally. The winner of this was Juan Martín Trucco, with a time of 1m19s555ms in his Dodge Challenger, surpassing Mauricio Lambiris (Ford Mustang) by 11ms and Santiago Mangoni (Chevrolet Camaro) by 164ms.
