Drama struck Sunday’s DTM round at the Norisring in Germany when Gary Paffett and Mike Rockenfeller were involved in a huge crash that saw the race be halted for half an hour.
At one of the fastest points on the circuit, Mercedes racer Paffett tangled with Jamie Green and career into the wall before being sent careering across the track towards the snake of cars negotiating a hairpin.
With both the front and rear end of his Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM suffering damage in the initial hit with the barrier, Paffett shunted into Rockenfeller at high speed, leaving both cars out of the race.
DTM officials halted the race for half an hour so that repairs to the barrier could be completed, while both drivers were taken to hospital.
It was later confirmed by Mercedes after the race that Paffett had suffered no injuries, while Audi announced on Twitter that Rockenfeller had suffered a small fracture to a metatarsal bone in his left foot.
MEDICAL UPDATE: @m_rockenfeller suffered a small fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone on his left foot #DTM #DTMNorisring pic.twitter.com/oDTOnrsJIQ
— Audi Sport (@audisport) July 2, 2017
Belgian racer Maxime Martin won the crash-strewn race ahead of Lucas Auer, the latter moving to within two points of DTM championship leader Mattias Ekstrom.