Christopher Mies has defined his unlucky collision with a kangaroo through the opening levels of the 2026 Bathurst 12 Hour, which the Ford driver survived unscathed.
Mies, who was sharing the #64 HRT Ford Mustang GT3 with reigning Supercars champion Broc Feeney and 2019 Intercontinental GT champion Dennis Olsen, hit a kangaroo at 250km/h on the Conrod Straight at Mount Panorama Circuit, with the incident ripping off the windshield of the Ford Mustang GT3.
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There was preliminary concern. The 2-time race winner was visibly shaken and took a number of minutes to gather himself.
“Yeah, I am glad I am standing right here proper now speaking to you. Clearly, it was a really, very large influence at a really excessive velocity, so yeah, I am simply glad standing right here proper now,” the 36-year-old mentioned in his preliminary response.
He went on to reward the security options of the Ford, which raced for the ultimate time in its pre-Evo configuration at Bathurst: “I feel that was in all probability the primary large hit for Mustang GT3 and I am actually glad that they constructed such a protected race automotive at Ford Racing and Multimatic, so thanks for that.”
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The influence caught Mies utterly off guard: “The second I noticed the kangaroo, that was the second I hit it, so there was no pre-warning, I did not see any flags or so, so I feel it’d simply have woken up and began to run and yeah, I used to be simply within the fallacious place on the fallacious time.”
Kangaroo contained in the cockpit “does not odor very good”
The severity of the crash was highlighted by the relatively grim proven fact that the stays of the kangaroo discovered their method into the cockpit, overlaying the German’s helmet and racing go well with, and thus creating an excessive mess.
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Mies confirmed that his complete gear is now not usable: “Yeah, I imply, it is all within the trash. I imply, it is not usable anymore. I can inform one factor, a kangaroo from the within does not odor very good, so yeah, however I am simply gutted for the workforce at HRT and Ford Racing that we could not do the total race distance immediately.”
Regardless of the shock, his love for Australia stays unbroken. Mies already introduced his intention to return to Mount Panorama subsequent 12 months. Nevertheless, he plans to vary his selection of souvenirs for house after this expertise.
“My son requested me to convey him just a little toy, a kangaroo toy. I can’t try this, I’ll purchase him a koala or a wombat or no matter, however no kangaroo,” he joked. “I nonetheless love Australia, I’ll nonetheless come again.”
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