Up and coming World Rally Championship driver Hayden Paddon rolled his Hyundai off the Ponte de Lima stage of this weekend’s Rally Portugal, starting a fire in the dry brush past the road. Ford Fiesta driver Ott Tänak rolled minutes later at the same spot.
Here is Paddon’s roll that started the dual car-b-que:
Here’s a view of the fiery carnage that followed:
Paddon and codriver John Kennard were lucky to escape, but everything short of their crash helmets got roasted in the vehicular inferno, per the WRC.
Tänak’s car also rolled at the same location, but fared significantly better. Locals were able to extinguish the flaming Fiesta quickly with a hose brought to the location, and pull Tänak’s Fiesta from the forest as the fire continued to blaze around it:
Images coming out of the dual roll are surreal. It’s not often that you see two rally cars go off at the same spot, and the risk here from the brush fire was very real.
The Ponte de Lima stage was cancelled by rally organizers after the two cars’ rolls. Fortunately, all drivers and codrivers in both cars escaped unharmed.
[Post has been updated with closer-up footage of the crash above. H/T Dusty Quacktures for the close-up video]