LE MANS, France — The Audi No. 1 of defending champion Loic Duval was smashed to pieces an hour into a practice session at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Wednesday.
The French driver was taken out of the car and carried into an ambulance.
The practice was red-flagged after the accident.
The crash happened a year after Allan Simonsen died during the race. The Danish driver’s Aston Martin spun out at high speed only 10 minutes into the race and skidded into a barrier. Simonsen died at the hospital.
Last year, Duval gave Audi a 12th title at the famed endurance race, four shy of Porsche’s record.