Zanardi on the Road to Recovery, Says Doctor

Racing driver Alex Zanardi has come out of his coma and is in stable condition following his high-speed crash at a CART race in Germany last weekend, doctors said.

"He is happily on the road to recovery," said Walter Schaffartzik, medical director of the intensive care unit at the Berlin hospital where the 34-year-old former Formula One driver is being treated.

"Alex Zanardi was brought step-by-step on Wednesday out of an artificial coma and he is now awake. It is still unclear when he will be out of intensive care," Schaffartzik said.

Zanardi had both legs amputated in an operation lasting over three hours on Saturday night after his accident on the official European debut of the CART series. Schaffartzik said Zanardi's condition was now stable and his wounds were being operated on every 48 hours to avoid infection and to remove splinters of metal and plastic. There were no complications so far, he added.

Zanardi, who survived a serious Formula One crash in 1993, had just come out of the pits after 142 laps of the 154-lap race at the Lausitzring oval when his Honda/Reynard was struck hard and destroyed by Canadian Alex Tagliani's Ford-Cosworth/Reynard.

The Italian, who drove in Formula One for the Williams, Jordan, Minardi and Lotus teams, spun across the grass and into the path of Tagliani, who was driving at an estimated 320 km/h. Both cars ended up crashing into a wall and the race was stopped.

Tagliani's condition was far less serious, the Canadian being discharged from hospital on Sunday afternoon after being kept in overnight for observation. Zanardi, who was out of Formula One for nine months after his 1993 accident in a Lotus during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, returned to CART racing this season after a two-year absence.

He embarked on his CART career in 1996. After winning the Rookie of the Year award, he won the championship in 1997 and 1998, becoming only the third driver in the history of the series to claim back-to-back titles.