Foster breaks back in SPEED testing shunt

Team WFR driver Joey Foster is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after breaking his back in a high-speed accident at Spa-Francorchamps prior to last weekend’s SPEED Euroseries round at the Belgian circuit.

The 28-year-old British driver was taking part in a private test for the sportscar squad when his car spun going through Eau Rouge at 150mph, took off and vaulted the barriers at the top of the corner.

While Foster was initially able to climb from the wreckage, he was later transferred to hospital and underwent a five-hour operation to repair the damaged vertebrae.

The injury is the second time the Truro-based driver has suffered a broken back following a 2006 accident at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz while racing in German F3, and Foster admitted he is now considering retiring from the sport.

“I have a lot of things to weigh up,” he told Motorsport News. “I have come close to being paralysed twice now and that gives you a different outlook on life. My heart and my head will probably say different things though, so there is a lot to consider.”

Foster, who will remain in hospital in Verbiers until at least the end of this week, explained that a sudden loss of downforce caused the accident. Both Team WFR cars and the customer WFR chassis set to be run by Zero Competition were withdrawn from the event.

“The car just lost downforce at the bottom of the hill,” he confirmed. “It got away from me. I thought I would be able to save it but then the air got underneath it and that was it.

“I could see the trees and the bushes coming. I went over the barrier on the other side there was a steep slope. I crashed down upside down and that is where the doctors think the damage was done.”

Team WFR is yet to identify the cause of Foster’s accident, although managing director Myles Schofield confirmed to Autosport that the team would be investigating what caused the sudden loss of downforce.

“We haven’t identified anything that may have caused it yet,” he said. “We will be looking at the car and at the data to find out exactly what happened.”

Watch the SPEED Euroseries on Motors TV.


Andy Wilkinson

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