Hans Weijs Released from Hospital Following Rally Ireland Crash

Dutch driver Hans Weijs Jr. may not have won his maiden J-WRC event in career, but he may consider himself lucky enough to have escaped a heavy crash on Saturday. The J-WRC rookie was in a great position to challenge for the win during this year's Rally Ireland but eventually finished the second day of the event on the hospital bed following his crash on SS14.

Weijs Jr. drove his Citroen C2 Super 1600 into the lead after the first day, holding a minimum 1.9-second of advantage over second placed Aaron Burkart. However, the KNAF Talent First Team Holland driver failed to keep the pace with Burkart and eventually let go of the lead in the first stages of Day 2.

However, when trailing the Rally Ireland leader by only 7.7 seconds, Weijs Jr. lost control of his car and crashed out of the road, injuring his leg in the process. He was immediately taken to the hospital, while his car was damaged severely.

Nevertheless, shortly after checking out of the hospital in Monday, the Dutch driver revealed that, while disappointed with his mistake on Saturday, looks set to at least making the podium in the second round of the J-WRC, Rally Portugal. However, fixing the car is top priority for the team right now.

“I’m feeling alright, although I have a painful right knee and left foot. I’m terribly disappointed that we lost the chance for a good result here. We have to do a good job in Portugal and score a top-three result to stay in touch with the competition; but I’m confident we can do that and we showed this weekend that we don’t have to be afraid of the competition. But we have to go and find some additional budget to cover the costs to repair the car,” said Weijs.