• “On tour” again just three days after his accident at Adria
  • Safety cell of the Audi A4 DTM withstood the crash
  • Audi Sport Team Phoenix prepares new car for Shanghai
DTM 2010

Just three days after his serious accident in the DTM race at Adria (Italy) Audi “factory” driver Alexandre Prémat will fly to the United States to visit the famous New York Marathon and to take in the unique atmosphere at one of the world’s biggest and most important running events.

Prémat, who constantly works on staying in superb physical condition, had originally planned to participate in the New York Marathon himself. “But running a 42-kilometer distance so soon after such a serious accident would not have been a wise thing to do,” says the Frenchman who suffered almost no injuries in the multiple rollover last Sunday, not least thanks to the high passive safety of the Audi A4 DTM. “I’m basically okay. I’ve still got a charley horse in my neck and my ankle hurts a little – but considering the dynamics of the accident, this is nothing. I’ve had a chance to look at the TV footage since then: the pictures were really horrible. I’m happy to be on my feet and in control of all my senses. I don’t even want to think of what the TV viewers and my family must have felt while watching the live coverage.”

Because the safety cell of the Audi A4 DTM withstood the enormous forces of the multiple roll-over Prémat was able to free himself from the wreckage. CT scans at the hospital in Adria confirmed on Sunday that the Audi driver sustained no injuries except for a cut on his foot. Prémat returned to the circuit the same night to fly from Venice to Paris the next morning. On Monday afternoon he started recuperating with his family in the mountains of Aix-lex-Bains.

Prémat will get into the cockpit of an Audi A4 DTM again for the first time at the grand DTM world finale from November 27 to 29 at Shanghai (China). Before the event, the mechanics of Audi Sport Team Phoenix will be in for a “marathon”: within just a few days they will have to prepare a new vehicle for Prémat at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt because the DTM cars will be sent to China by air as early as next week.

Alexandre Prémat wants to delete the memory of last Sunday as quickly as possible. “This was the most severe accident I’ve ever had,” says the Frenchman. “I just thought ‘when will the car finally come to rest’? I’d like to quickly forget that. I’m looking ahead and am already excited about going to Shanghai.”

The car that was driven in the accident will be carefully examined at Audi Sport in Ingolstadt to obtain further findings for the next generation of the DTM cars and for production car development. “Obviously we’d rather not see such crash tests during a race but they provide valuable data,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “That Alex came out of the accident in such good shape shows that we’re heading in the right direction in the DTM, where safety is our top priority.”