Fractured ankle puts brakes on Franchitti

Published on Sunday 27 April 2008 23:11

BATHGATE'S Dario Franchitti will be out of Nascar action for a few weeks after fracturing his left ankle in the latest round of the Nationwide Series, the Aaron's 312 at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Just ten laps into the race, the 34-year-old Scot's Ganassi Dodge was sent spinning into the wall at 180mph after it suffered a puncture. The impact spat him back into the track where Larry Gunselman's Chevrolet ploughed into the driver's side of Franchitti's stricken racer.

The Scot, who had qualified fourth for Saturday's race, was taken to hospital after preliminary checks in the infield care centre.

American Tony Stewart, who started from pole position, went on to win the Aaron's 312 in dominant fashion leading 80 out of the 117 laps of the event.

There was better news though for Dario's younger brother Marino. The 29-year-old powered his Porsche 997 GT3 RSR to overall victory in the latest round of the VLN Championship at the Nordschliefe in Germany, the original 15-mile Nurburgring circuit.

Partnered by Frank Stippler, who qualified their car on pole with a lap of 8mins 19.798secs, Franchitti led the 210-car grid through his middle stage of the four-hour race before the German brought the car home, one-and-a-half minutes ahead of the field.

Meanwhile, any hopes Dumfries racer Allan McNish had of winning the European Le Mans Series at his first attempt all but evaporated after he watched his team-mate Dindo Capello crash spectacularly 20 minutes into the Monza 1000km.

The Italian clipped the Rollcentre Racing Pescarolo on the back straight while running fourth and almost flipped.