Le Mans 24 Hours: Audi's Loic Duval conscious after huge crash
Audi driver Loic Duval is conscious and talking after a major accident in practice for this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours
Duval, who was part of the winning crew at Le Mans last year, crashed his Audi R18 e-tron quattro in the final right-hander in the Porsche Curves just over 60 minutes into the four-hour practice session.
Audi Sport boss Wolfgang Ullrich reported that his driver was awake and alert and would be transferred from the circuit medical centre to hospital in the city of Le Mans for tests.
Those tests produced positive results, and Audi confirmed prior to Wednesday evening's qualifying session that Duval was "unhurt apart from two grazes to the skin".
Le Mans 24 Hours as it happens on AUTOSPORT Live
The Audi made heavy contact with the debris fencing on the entry to the corner and sustained serious rear-end damage in the impact.
Duval was extricated from the wreckage and transported to the circuit medical centre by ambulance before his transfer to hospital.
The Frenchman, who was second in the times when the accident happened, had just gone quickest of all in the first sector at the start of the lap on which he crashed.
The cause of Duval's accident remains unknown, but the car became airborne some way before the point of impact and hit the debris fencing roof first.
Duval, who shares his R18 with Tom Kristensen and Lucas di Grassi, had set a best lap of 3m24.729s, which was just over a second behind Anthony Davidson's Toyota TS040 HYBRID at the top of the times.
The session resumed at 17:55 local time, approximately 50 minutes after the accident.
Audi is now working to have a car ready for its #1 crew to take part in Thursday's qualifying sessions.
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