On July 1st, the world of motorsport lost one of its rising stars when 18-year-old FRECA driver Dilano van’t Hoff passed away from injuries suffered in a crash at Spa-Francorchamps. RPM driver Adam Fitzgerald was also heavily injured in this crash. The Irish driver spoke exclusively to Feeder Series about the tragic events that unfolded and his road to recovery.

By Perceval Wolff

At more than 200 kph, at the level of the Kemmel corner just after Raidillon, Adam Fitzgerald’s car collided with Dilano van’t Hoff’s one. “It all happened so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to react before the impact,” said Adam Fitzgerald.

“The team told me I didn’t get the chance to hit the brake pedal before I made contact with Dilano’s car in front, and I hit his car. I don’t really remember much from that point, I only remember the pain… surprisingly the adrenaline didn’t do anything. It was like getting a sledge hammer through the lower back, it felt like the most excruciating pain.

“I didn’t even know at that point that my elbow was broken, I didn’t know I had a collar fracture to my stern, that I bruised my heel, my other elbow… I didn’t feel any of that because all the pain was in my back.”

A race that never should have resumed

The low visibility in these rainy conditions was undoubtedly one of the main triggers of this crash, and there had been several laps under the safety car before the race was resumed. The Irish driver firmly believes the race should have been red-flagged.

“Absolutely. I can give an example of how bad the visibility was. At Spa, first you have Eau Rouge which is a left turn and then after this, you have the Raidillon on the right. The curb on the left that you take first, I simply couldn’t see it, I missed it completely and I almost went over the grass through the Raidillon because I couldn’t see where the kerb was.

“There was zero visibility and to make things worse, my visor was fogging up. This race should have been stopped at 100%, it was much too dangerous. There was no way, absolutely no way, if anyone spun in front of you, there was zero chance you could see it and avoid the car. And that’s what happened…”

I’m still lost for words for what happened for [Dilano] and his family

Adam Fitzgerald

“After the impact, I don’t remember much because of the pain. I remember seeing the ambulance going straight away to Dilano’s car, I didn’t know how bad it was, but I could see how many people were stranded around his car from the ambulance. And that meant that I was left in the car for at least five minutes.

“I had [Joshua] Dufek trying to scream and get people to help me but there was no one there because there was only one ambulance on the scene. I guessed Dilano was for sure injured, but I never knew how bad it could be. I knew it was bad for both of us and…

Fitzgerald paused. “That’s incredibly sad what happened, I’m still lost of words for what happened for him and his family,” he said.

Recovering from his injuries

Adam Fitzgerald was also injured in that crash and has spent the last few weeks focusing on recovering from his injuries.

“The first two weeks were really difficult, because I was just in the hospital, on my own most of the time, in Belgium, far from my family, with very few people I knew besides my dad. That was quite tough. Back home in Ireland, it was better because I had my family around.

“But to be at the hospital, to be at home and not to be able to do anything, it was very tough mentally. I’ve been trying to stay busy, productive. I’ve just started physio now, so it’s going in the right direction.

“Today, I can walk around, but I broke four vertebras of my lower back,” Fitzgerald continued. “When I sit down, it puts a lot of pressure on my back, it gets very sore, so I can’t sit down for more than two hours, I have to do and lie down flat in the bed, which gets the pressure off my back. I can’t walk around for too long, I can’t sit down for too long…

“My arms are not too sore, but I can’t stretch my elbow fully, there is not much mobility because I got two screws in my elbow at the hospital. That makes things difficult to get dressed, eat, and things like that. Not too much pain on that side, but doctors told me that that would take the longest to recover. Four to six months from what I’ve been told.”

It’s not the first time this year that Fitzgerald broke some of his vertebras while racing, as he was launched by some sausage kerbs at Imola. “Last time at Imola, it was three vertebras in my upper back. But lower back is worse, there is much more pressure on it, so it could take a little longer.”

Fitzgerald has been very discreet on social networks about his injuries and his recovery, but this was a deliberate act from the RPM driver. “I didn’t want to focus myself or on my injuries because of what happened to Dilano. Me talking about my injuries would just have taken attention away from Dilano and I didn’t want that.”

Getting back in the car as soon as possible

Fitzgerald aims to return to racing, saying, “This crash hasn’t changed my love to the sport. It just made me hungrier than ever, I want to get back in the car. When the crash happened, I had so much pain, I didn’t know if I could ever walk back again and I was just hoping I wasn’t paralyzed.

“But then a few days after the crash, I already wanted to get back into the car. I was watching all the racing, FRECA, F3, F2, F1, everything. It hasn’t changed my perception of motorsport.

What Fitzgerald wants to happen going forwards is for race organisers to take additional precautions in case of low visibility and poor weather conditions.

“I just hope that the precautions they took for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, to not race in case there is too much rain, they will apply the same precautions in the future for all racing categories.”

A FRECA comeback with RPM in 2024?

Adam Fitzgerald has already ruled out the possibility of coming back this year in FRECA. “I won’t be able. If it was only about my back, I could maybe come back for the last one or two rounds, but my elbow is just too bad.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we will be able to recoup much of the money for the season that we already paid. That puts us in a tricky situation, where we are trying to find the budget for next year,” he continued.

“I think RPM will have another driver in the car for the last four rounds hopefully. That will allow us to get back a part of the money that we could use for a racing program next year.

“I have got a very good relationship with Keith [Donegan, RPM founder and Team Principal], I have a lot of support from him. I’m hoping that if I’m able to find the budget for next year, that will be for another FRECA season with RPM.”

The FRECA season will resume at Red Bull Ring on the 9th-10th of September for the seventh round of the season.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Sebastiaan Rozendaal