Racers held after 2 die in rally

POLICE are still trying to work out the cause of a rally car crash that killed two people and injured 19 spectators at the Riviera village of Plan-de-la-Tour.

They are questioning driver Yann Buron and navigator Jean-Luc Ferrero after they left hospital yesterday afternoon to be taken to the gendarmerie at Gassin-Saint-Tropez. Investigators are also examining the car to see if there had been a mechanical failure.

The orange VW Golf had ploughed into spectators after running straight-on at a corner; with some people being sent flying through the air into nearby vines.

A 20-year-old man and a 50-year-old race steward were killed. Five people were seriously injured, with a 12-year-old and a 17-year-old fighting for their lives.

Police are taking statements from witnesses to the Saturday afternoon accident and also collected video and photographic evidence from spectators.

Draguignan procureur Danielle Drouy-Ayral told journalists: "We are trying to understand if there was a mechanical failure, a driver error or a navigator error." She said the car was new and both driver and co-driver had been racing for 15 years.

The 14e Rallye des Maures in the hills surrounding Plan-de-la-Tour, where actor Johnny Depp and singer Vanessa Paridis have their French home, was abandoned after the accident. It is part of the French rally championship.

Sports Minister Valérie Fourneyron has promised an in-depth inquiry into the sport and its dangers but promised no hasty measures.

She is to meet Interior Minister Manuel Valls and French motorsport federation president Nicolas Deschaux next week to look at safety regulations. Rules were tightened up in 2007 after an accident on a rally in Pas-de-Calais where a five-year-old child was killed.

Last month a 65-year-old spectator was killed in an accident at Pompidou on the Rally de Lozère. Police said he had been in a prohibited zone.

Screengrab from TF1 news