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Supercars rookie out with concussion after scary crash

3 minute read

Supercars luminaries have called for changes to a notorious corner that has claimed four drivers to high-speed crashes at the Adelaide 500.

The Adelaide street circuit's notorious turn eight has claimed another victim, with rookie Supercars driver Jaxon Evans ruled out of the final race of the season after a brutal crash.

The New Zealander was diagnosed with concussion after his high-speed collision during qualifying on Sunday.

With seconds remaining in the session, the Brad Jones Racing driver clipped the inside kerb of the infamous corner and careened into the concrete barrier opposite.

The collision ripped the front left wheel off the chassis and sent pieces of bodywork flying as the car slid along the barrier before bouncing off and crashing into the opposite wall. 

The smoking wreckage finally came to a rest halfway down Brabham Straight.

"Feeling a little bit shaken up after that," Evans said soon after the crash.

"Never nice to be the one that ends up in the fence, especially here at turn eight.

"Obviously it's qualifying, so we're putting everything on the line. I feel like I didn't turn in super early, maybe a little bit in the end and I just caught the inside fence, which put me into the outside fence, and from there on you're a passenger."

It was the same turn that ended Friday's opening qualifying session early, when Richie Stanaway, Cam Hill and David Reynolds clipped the same kerb and collided into the same section of concrete within seconds of each other.

Evans was able to walk away from his crash and was cleared by a medical assessment, but his condition deteriorated.

"This means that Jaxon will be unable to take any further part in this weekend and the SCT Motorsport Camaro will remain in the garage for the final race of the season," his team Brad Jones Racing said in a statement.

Team principal Brad Jones said their engineers had been on track to repair the severely damaged vehicle before the race.

"The amount of work they've done in such a short space of time is staggering," Jones said.

The crash prompted calls for a review of the turn's layout. 

Supercars legend and commentator Mark Skaife suggested moving back the barrier on the outside of the turn, while three-time champion Scott McLaughlin questioned the positioning of the guardrail on the inside of the corner.

Jones fell victim to turn eight as a driver himself, but did not feel there needed to be any changes to the corner.

"I don't know that you need to do anything, to tell you the truth," he said.

"Motor racing is tricky and that's a tricky corner. You take a risk and sometimes when it goes wrong you pay the price."

Turn eight struck again in race three of the Porsche Carrera Cup, with Glen Wood and championship leader Harri Jones falling victim to the inside kerb-concrete barrier combo.