VIDEO: Daly flies in Monaco
2012-05-28 10:27
MONACO TAKES ITS TOLL: The tight street circuit of Monaco took its toll on F1 and GP3 drivers over May 25 - 27. Above shows Coner Daly's spectacular crash.
Author: JEROME PUGMIRE
MONTE CARLO, Monaco - American driver Conor Daly walked away unharmed from this spectacular crash during a GP3 series race in Monaco on May 26.
The 20-year-old Lotus driver was coming out of the tunnel mouth overlooking Monaco's harbour when he hit the back of Russian driver Dmitry Suranovic as he tried to pass him.
Suranovic appeared to drift over to the left to block Daly, causing Daly's car to clip the back of Suranovic and send it rearing upward instantly. Daly's car was almost vertical as it slid for 40m before hitting the very top of the catch fencing, almost flipping right over then slid into the barrier on the other side of the track.
Amazingly, Daly walked away unhurt and no track officials were injured as debris flew everywhere.
'CAR WAS MEGA'
He played down the crash but was relieved to be safe. "Thank you (at) GP3-Official for having a safe car. That was definitely the biggest crash Ive ever had," he said on his Twitter page. However, he was furious with Suranovic , blaming him for the incident.
Daly wrote on Twitter: "Hey guys Im ok. Car was mega an I was having so much fun. But cant help it when other people do stupid stuff."
Daly acted so coolly after the crash, it seemed nothing had happened. He even remembered to put his steering wheel back into place before jumping out as relieved Lotus officials looked on.
Daly's father, Derek, became an Indianapolis 500 driver in the 1980's after several years driving in F1, where he competed in 64 GP's.
Daly's stepfather is Doug Boles, vice-president of communications for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
