24h Le Mans
Images of Billy Monger's accident during a round of the national F4 championship at the British circuit Donington last Sunday have gone viral and caused an outpouring of emotion from the 24 Hours of Le Mans and motorsports communities which have quickly begun collecting donations to help in his recovery.
The JHR Developments team in which Billy Monger competed has set up a crowdfunding platform (link) to help the 17-year-old who was in the lead in the Challenge Cup and seventh in the championship. Both of the British driver's legs have been amputed after he had no choice but to collide with a stopped single-seater broken down on the track and suffer an extremely violent impact.
The endurance racing and 24 Hours of Le Mans families have immediately showed their support, like official Ford driver Andy Priaulx, official Corvette driver Antonio Garcia and former official Audi driver Filipe Albuquerque. Many previous Le Mans winners such as André Lotterer, Romain Dumas, Earl Bamber, Mark Blundell and American motorsports legend Mario Andretti have made donations and sent messages of support and encouragement to Billy Monger and his family.
The goal of 260,000 pounds has already been significantly exceeded, for now the amount collected is nearly three times the goal, thanks namely to the generosity of F1 drivers Jenson Button and Max Verstappen, but the healing journey will be long and expensive for Billy Monger. All we can hope for him is that he may follow the path of Alessandro Zanardi whose legs were also amputated after an accident in single-seaters in the U.S., and Frédéric Sausset, the first quad-amputee to take the start and cross the finish line at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2016).
