Emotional DTM weekend in Zolder
10/16/2020
If you are driving on the A2 from Maastricht in the direction of Brussels, you will see the sign "Cicuit Zolder" at exit "27".
Is that by chance or by design? In 1982, 38 years ago, Gilles Villeneuve's great fighting heart in the Ferrari with starting number 27 was extinguished on this race track. After a misunderstanding in qualifying when overtaking Jochen Mass, who was on the exit lap, there was contact and the Canadian overturned the Ferrari several times, throwing him and his seat out of the car and killing him on the post of one of the safety fences at the time.
36 years have passed since I photographed Michele Alboreto's winning drive in the Ferrari at the last Belgian Grand Prix in 1984.
Now I was back on the hill where the fatal contact between the German and the Canadian had taken place. All the memories came flooding back and I couldn't suppress them for a second during the entire DTM weekend.
Probably hardly any of the current DTM drivers knew about the tragedy at the time and I was probably the only one in the whole entourage who was lucky enough to have known the likeable Canadian personally. We actually sat in the Ferrari bus an hour before his death and ate spaghetti together.
I for one will never be able to forget that Saturday, May 8, 1982 ...
