- V8 driver Conor Somers had a lucky escape on Saturday
- Was competing in qualifying for Townsville 500
- Lost control of Porsche after collision with Ross McGregor
Porsche driver Conor Somers has remarkably walked away unscathed after his vehicle was launched into the air and rolled at high speed during Townsville 500 qualifying on Saturday.
A collision with Ross McGregor on a blind corner sent Somers’ Porsche 911 flying into a concrete barricade.
He then rolled several times, leaving fans fearing the worst.
Somers was uninjured in the crash and crawled out of the driver’s seat window with his battered car coming to a stop on its roof, News Corp reported.
Trackside fans also had to duck for cover as debris spilt everywhere through a gap in the fence.
‘That is phenomenal. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like that in a Cup car, being launched like that. ‘That was like an open wheeler through there,’ Fox Sports commentator Richard Craill said.
‘On the entry to the corner he was on the outside of McGregor and it’s launched the car into the air.’
The accident unfolded just after the railway tracks at the Reid Park circuit, with Turn 10 a notorious danger spot for crashes.
Porsche driver Conor Somers has remarkably walked away unscathed after his vehicle was launched into the air and rolled at high speed during Townsville 500 qualifying on Saturday
Conor Somers (right) was uninjured in the crash which followed a collision with Ross McGregor at the Reid Park circuit
‘Once you get through that turn eight, turn nine and you’re leaning into turn 10 that is a very fast blind corner,’ V8 Supercars legend Craig Lowndes said on Fox Sports.
‘There’s been contact between two cars. That’s a heavy impact to move those concrete barriers ….that’s huge force.’
Somers had posted the fifth-best time in qualifying, in his first visit to Townsville.
The session was eventually red-flagged and the damaged barrier quickly replaced.
Race 13 – the first 88-lap race of the weekend – will start at 2:40pm.