A number of Moto3 riders have had a narrow escape from what could have potentially been a huge incident during the French Grand Prix MotoGP weekend, after a service vehicle accidentally entered the track at Le Mans during Moto3’s opening practice session.
The incident happened only minutes into the first session of the weekend at the French circuit, with a number of riders passing by in close proximity to the car when the driver seemingly took a wrong turn and entered the track at the final Raccordement section of the circuit.
The BMW X5 involved is one of the vehicles used to give VIP guest tours of the circuit’s service road. Trips around the track are given away to select guests in a raffle held in the MotoGP VIP Village, a premium fan experience offered by the championship.
“Obviously it was a mistake from the driver,” MotoGP race director Mike Webb told The Race when organisers were contacted for a comment on the incident, “and the service road exit is now blocked.”
It’s not the first time that there has been a close encounter between one of the BMW X5s used to chauffeur guests around the track and a bike, with Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha machine making contact with one of the cars at Brno in 2014 when he crashed and the bike flew over the Czech circuit’s tyre wall.
The Italian suffered an injured little finger in the high-speed fall, but thankfully the occupants of the car escaped unscathed.
