ITALY: Irish racer Adam Fitzgerald suffered a spinal injury during the Formula Regional European Championship race weekend at Imola. The rookie driver competed for the Racing Performance Motorsport team and finished 22nd place in his debut race.
However, things worsened during this racing weekend when Fitzgerald drove over the high sausage kerbing, resulting in a back injury that led to his withdrawal from the rest of the session. Fitzgerald has since been diagnosed with three fractured vertebrae, and medical experts expect him to be out of action for at least a month.
Fitzgerald’s injury is the latest in a series of accidents caused by sausage kerbs in motorsport.
Abbie Eaton, Oleksandr Partyshev, Santiago Ramos, Tim Tramnitz, and Sean Gelael are just a few of the racers who have suffered similar back injuries due to the high kerbing.
Eaton suffered crushed vertebrae in her back after she drove over a sausage kerb during the W Series race at the Circuit of the Americas in 2021.
Ramos broke a few vertebrae during a race at the Misano circuit, while Tramnitz injured his spine at Estoril in an F4 crash in late 2021. Formula 2 driver, Sean Galael, suffered a back injury in 2020 in Barcelona.
Fitzgerald’s team, Racing Performance Motorsport, took to social media to voice their frustration with the continued use of the sausage kerbs.
Even McLaren driver Lando Norris has voiced his concern over using raised kerbs in the past and called for their removal from motorsport.
Norris’s comments came after a terrifying crash at Silverstone during the Formula 2 race, where Dennis Hauger’s car hit a sausage kerb and flew into the air onto Roy Nissany’s car.
The question remains whether motorsport organisers will take heed of the growing concerns over sausage kerbs and remove them from tracks.
As Fitzgerald’s team spokesperson pointed out, other solutions are available, and the continued use of sausage kerbs could lead to more severe injuries.
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