Rally car injury man ‘stable’

The man, in his fifties, was taken by helicopter to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after the incident at the Granite City Rally in Durris Forest, outside the city, on Saturday.

He was left with “life-threatening” injuries to his leg and pelvis after the rally car came off a forest track and collided with four male spectators.

The accident happened as spectators rushed to aid the Nissan Micra driven by Rachel Medich, after it veered into a ditch.

The Peugeot of Simon Frazer Hay then went off at the same spot minutes later hitting a number of them, the Aberdeen and District Motor club said.

Three other men were taken to hospital by ambulance at around 11.20am.

One of them received minor injuries, and two had “serious injuries which are described as not life-threatening”.

One was a competitor in the Scottish Rally Championship, the Aberdeen and District Motor Club said.

A Grampian police spokesman said yesterday: “The male who sustained life-threatening injuries underwent surgery earlier today and is now described as critical but stable.

“Investigations into the incident continue.”

The Granite City Rally is described as “the biggest motorsport event in the north-east of Scotland”, and involves more than 100 crews starting from the Thainstone Agricultural Centre, near Inverurie.

The course runs for 44 miles (71km) in five stages and is the third round in the Scottish Rally Championship.

Rally driver David Bogie, who won the event, said: “Today our thoughts are with the people who were injured in the incident. We’re all thinking of them and their families, and we pray they recover fully from their injuries.”