Parents of injured NZ driver fly to bedside

Mark Porter

The parents of critically injured New Zealand V8 Supercar driver Mark Porter flew to Australia early this morning.

Porter and Australian David Clark were airlifted to hospital after being pulled unconscious from their cars following a 180kph crash in the second tier Fujitsu V8 Supercar series race at Bathurst yesterday.

It took at least 10 minutes to cut him Porter free through the passenger's door of his Holden Commodore.

The 31-year-old born father of one was immediately taken by ambulance to Bathurst Base Hospital where he was stabilised before being flown by helicopter to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney in a critical condition. It is understood he has serious head and chest injuries.

Sister-in-law Yvette Porter told The Waikato Times Porter's parents Robyn and Robin left at 6.30am. Other family members planned to get there as soon as they could.

Porter was scheduled to partner Dale Brede in tomorrow's Bathurst 1000, the premier V8 Supercar endurance race, driving for Team BOC Falcon.

V8 Supercars officials would not speculate on the cause of the crash in which Porter's MSport Racing Commodore suddenly spun sideways, stalled and left him stranded as a sitting target in the middle of the track.

As Gold Coast-based Porter climbed the mountain near Reid Park on the 12th lap of the 14 lap race, he spun and stalled and was clipped from the rear by Chris Alajajian who was unhurt.

Clark then came flying up the hill oblivious to what was ahead and sent his Falcon sideways in a desperate attempt to escape collision but crashed directly into Porter's driver's side door at around 180kph.

In the week in which motorsport prepares to honour the late Peter Brock who died in a rally crash last month, defending Bathurst 1000 champion Mark Skaife said the accident was another reminder of the dangers all race drivers face.

- NZPA