Teammates of fallen Le Mans driver continue on - MotorSportsTalk

Allan Simonsen’s teammates at Aston Martin Racing are continuing their races at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after the 34-year-old Danish driver died following an accident this morning during the first hour of the race.

A short release from the team stated that their three GTE-Pro class and No. 96 GTE-Am class squads would keep racing in tribute to him at the specific request of Simonsen’s family. Simonsen was driving a second GTE-Am machine, the No. 95 Vantage V8 (pictured), when he collided with the ARMCO barriers at the Tertre Rouge corner on his fourth lap of the race.

He later succumbed to his injuries at the Circuit de la Sarthe’s medical center. Simonsen’s death has reverberated throughout the racing world this morning, with Corvette Racing’s Oliver Gavin mentioning that he was behind the Dane on the track at the time of his fatal accident.

“Dreadful news that Allan Simonsen has passed away,” Gavin said on Twitter. “I was right behind him when he went off at Tetre [sic] Rouge, horrible accident. Just awful.”

Formula One’s Max Chilton has tweeted that he was “truly saddened” about the tragedy, while Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan has called it “tragic news.”

According to Autosport, Simonsen’s death is the first at Le Mans since 1997, when French driver Sebastien Enjolras was killed in a pre-qualifying crash. It is also the first in the race itself since Austria’s Jo Gartner lost his life in an accident on the Mulsanne Straight back in 1986.

In a continuing effort to help fans keep track of the on track action, SuperMotocross is in the process of developing and implementing leader lights for the unified series.

Currently Supercross (SMX) utilizes stanchions in the infield that are triggered manually by a race official. At least two stanchions are used in each race as a way to draw the eye to the leader, which is especially useful in the tight confines of the stadium series when lapping often begins before the halfway mark in the 22-bike field. This system has been in place for the past two decades.

Later this year, a fully automated system will move to the bike itself to replace the old system. At that point, fans will be able to identify the leader regardless of where he is on track.

The leader lights were tested in the second Anaheim round this year. An example can be seen at the 1:45 mark in the video above on the No. 69 bike.

“What we don’t want to do is move too fast, where it’s confusing to people,” said Mike Muye, senior director of operations for Supercross and SMX in a press release. “We’ve really just focused on the leader at this point with the thought that maybe down the road we’ll introduce others.”

Scheduled to debut with the first SuperMotocross World Championship race at zMax Dragway, located just outside the Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 3D carbon fiber-printed LED light will be affixed to each motorcycle. Ten timing loops positioned around the track will trigger the lights of the leader, which will turn green.

SMX’s partner LiveTime Scoring helped develop and implement the system that has been tested in some form or fashion since 2019.

When the leader lights are successfully deployed, SuperMotocross will explore expanding the system to identify the second- and third-place riders. Depending on need and fan acceptance, more positions could be added.

SuperMotocross is exploring future enhancements, including allowing for live fan interaction with the lights and ways to use the lighting system during the race’s opening ceremony.

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