Allan Weel Simonsen (5 July 1978 – 22 June 2013)[1] was a Danishracing driver, born inOdense. He died after a crash during the third lap[2] of the2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.[3][4][5]
After beginning his career inkarting racing against the likes of futureFormula One World ChampionKimi Räikkönen, Simonsen moved to cars in 1999, winning the DanishFormula Ford Championship. He raced inFormula Palmer Audi in 2000, before moving toGerman Formula 3 andFormula Renault 2.0 UK in 2001.[6]
Simonsen moved tosports car racing for 2002, driving aFerrari 360 forVeloqx Motorsport in theBritish GT Championship. He began racing in Australia in 2003 forMark Coffey Racing, driving aFerrari 360 Challenge to 8th place in the2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship for GT style cars and 2nd place in Group 2. He would then go on to finish in 8th place in the2003 Bathurst 24 Hour driving aLamborghini Diablo GTR. In the2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship, he drove the 360 to 3rd place in the Trophy Class while driving aV12 powered550 Millennio in a limited campaign to 7th in the outright class.
While in Australia, Simonsen also drove in theSandown 500 andBathurst 1000V8 Supercar events. Simonsen's best Bathurst result came in2011, when he finished third forKelly Racing, driving alongsideGreg Murphy in aHolden VE Commodore.[7] Simonsen won theAustralian GT Championship in2007 (driving both a Ferrari 360 GT and aFerrari F430) and finished second in2008 driving a Ferrari F430 GT.
At the 2011 Sprint Bathurst event, Simonsen set a blistering time of 2:04.95 around the famous Mount Panorama circuit. This was a monumental effort at the time, as it was a full 2 seconds faster than any V8 Supercar lap time and comparable to the Formula 3 lap record set in the following year.[8][9] Simonsen's time was so quick that the officials initially removed it from the timing screens, for they believed it to be an error. It wasn't until it was confirmed by the manual time keeper and the team's own data, however, that the time was reinstated.[10]
Simonsen placed fourth in the2007 Le Mans Series season, in a partial season driving aPorsche 911 GT3 for Virgo Motorsport, which included a GT2 class win in theNürburgring 1000.[11] He drove Ferraris for Team Farnbacher in both theLe Mans Series as well as various international series from 2008 through 2011. During that time, Simonson won the GT2 class at the2009 1000 km of Okayama withDominik Farnbacher and the SP7 class in the2010 24 Hours Nürburgring with Farnbacher,Leh Keen, and Marco Seefried. He participated in the24 Hours of Le Mans seven times between 2007 and 2013, finishing on the GT2 class podium twice: third in2007 and second in2010.
In the 9th minute of the2013 24 Hours of Le Mans,[12] and on his third lap,[13] Simonsen was leading the LMGTE Am field with his No. 95Aston Martin Vantage GTE.[14] At the Tertre Rouge corner, Simonsen's car twitched as he accelerated through the right hand turn,[14] and when he attempted to correct,[14][15] the car veered left before impacting thecrash barriers on the outside of the corner.[4][5] He was extricated from the car, reportedly conscious,[16] before being taken to the on-site medical centre where he succumbed to his injuries.[17] His death was the first in racing conditions during the24 Hours of Le Mans sinceJo Gartner died in a1986 crash, while French driverSébastien Enjolras died more recently in a pre-qualifying session accident in1997.[17][18]
Race officials raised aDanish flag athalf mast over the circuit's podium during the race in honor of Simonsen. Fellow Danish driverTom Kristensen won the race overall and dedicated his team's victory to the memory of Simonsen.[19]
The award for the fastest qualifier at theBathurst 12 Hour, which Simonsen won in 2013, is named the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.[20]
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 |  Autorlando Sport Farnbacher Racing | Pierre Ehret Lars-Erik Nielsen | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | GT2 | 309 | 21st | 3rd |
| 2008 | Kruse Schiller Motorsport |  Jean de Pourtales Hideki Noda | Lola B05/40-Mazda | LMP2 | 147 | DNF | DNF |
| 2009 | Hankook Team Farnbacher | Dominik Farnbacher Christian Montanari | Ferrari F430 GT2 | GT2 | 183 | DNF | DNF |
| 2010 | Hankook Team Farnbacher | Dominik Farnbacher Leh Keen | Ferrari F430 GT2 | GT2 | 336 | 12th | 2nd |
| 2011 | Hankook Team Farnbacher | Dominik FarnbacherLeh Keen | Ferrari 458 Italia GTC | GTE Pro | 137 | DNF | DNF |
| 2012 |  Aston Martin Racing | Christoffer NygaardKristian Poulsen | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | GTE Am | 31 | DNF | DNF |
| 2013 | Aston Martin Racing | Christoffer NygaardKristian Poulsen | Aston Martin Vantage GTE | GTE Am | 2 | DNF | DNF |
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 |  Mark Coffey Racing | Paul StokellLuke YouldenPeter Hackett | Lamborghini Diablo GTR | A | 487 | 8th | 6th |
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Action Racing | Jason BrightMarcus Zukanovic | Ford Mustang Shelby | I | 121 | 26th | 1st |
| 2011 | Red Alert Laser Tag | Hector LesterLuke Searle | Ferrari 430 GT3 | A | 276 | 6th | 5th |
| 2012 | Maranello Motorsport | John BowePeter EdwardsDominik Farnbacher | Ferrari 458 GT3 | A | 114 | DNF | DNF |
| 2013 | Maranello Motorsport | John BowePeter Edwards Mika Salo | Ferrari 458 GT3 | A | 111 | DNF | DNF |
| Year | Team | Car | Co-driver | Position | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore VX | Nathan Pretty | DNF | 42 |
| 2004 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore VY | Nathan Pretty | 10th | 160 |
| 2005 | Perkins Engineering | Holden Commodore VZ | Alex Davison | 20th | 129 |
| 2006 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Falcon BA | Richard Lyons | 12th | 161 |
| 2007 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Falcon BF | Richard Lyons | 5th | 161 |
| 2009 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Falcon FG | James Thompson | DNF | 152 |
| 2010 | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden Commodore VE |  Greg Murphy | 6th | 161 |
| 2011 | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore VE | Greg Murphy | 3rd | 161 |
| 2012 | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon FG | Steven Johnson | 17th | 161 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Australian GT Champion 2007 | Succeeded by |
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