Monzon, 58, is a local motorsport legend from Las Palmas. He has won several Canary Islands championships and also has two Spanish rally championship titles to his name.
Monzon set out to achieve a successful event in the European Rally Championship at Rally Islas Canarias, but things went wrong during the event’s opening special stage on Thursday evening.
During the stage, drivers took their cars inside a basketball arena. Monzon made a small error in front of thousands of spectators, and the rear wheel of his Citroën C3 Rally2 car hit a concrete barrier protecting the stands. Although he wasn’t driving fast, the Citroën’s rear suspension failed.
Monzon was able to limp to the finish line, but the veteran wasn’t smiling.
“It is a big problem. I touched the wall with the tyre. I don’t know what happened to the car, but it looks like a really serious problem,” Monzon said.
Watch the video below of Monzon’s situation. The story continues after the video.
Monzon ultimately retired from the special stage, receiving a ten-minute time penalty.
The first stage was won by New Zealand rally ace Hayden Paddon, who beat Italian Andrea Mabellini by 1.2 seconds. Polish driver Mikolaj Marczyk placed third, while Czech driver Erik Cais came in fourth.
Rally Islas Canarias will get fully underway on Friday, with six special stages scheduled.
