A French winemaker who saw a world-class rally driver skew off the road and into the heart of his vines has played down the damage caused.
Norwegian rally driver Petter Solberg lost control of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC and plunged into vineyards in Alsace during the Rallye de France event.
Solberg and his co-driver were unhurt in the crash, which happened in the Epfig region, but winemaker Daniel Wolfer‘s lush green vines were not so lucky.
Still, Wolfer took a light-hearted approach to the incident when contacted by Decanter.com. ‘He took a tour of my vineyards,’ he said.
‘Of course, we will have to repair the damage, but there is always work for us to do and it was not too bad.’ He added he remains optimistic about the 2012 harvest, with grapes showing ‘good character’.
Jean-Claude Wolffer, whose son Xavier filmed the video of Solberg’s crash, said the car ploughed through around 50 feet of vines, before hitting an electric pilon and coming to a stop.
‘Most spectators were in shock after the accident, but a few were laughing at the driver’s mistake,’ he told Decanter.com. See his son’s video below.
Written by Chris Mercer
