/ Stars that died in 2023: Christian Bakkerud, Danish racing driver, died from injuries sustained in a car accident he was 26.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Christian Bakkerud, Danish racing driver, died from injuries sustained in a car accident he was 26.

Christian Bakkerud  was a Danish racing driver, who competed in the 2007 and 2008 GP2 Series seasons, albeit hindered by a recurrent back injury died from injuries sustained in a car accident he was 26.. Prior to GP2 he competed in British Formula Three and Formula BMW.

(November 3, 1984 – September 11, 2011)

Formula BMW

Bakkerud competed in Formula BMW from 2002 to 2004, joining the British version of the series in the latter year after two seasons in Germany.

Formula Three

Bakkerud competed in British Formula Three in 2005 and 2006. Having finished seventh in the championship in 2005, he improved to sixth place in 2006, and also scored his first series win for Carlin at Mugello in 2006 - arguably his career highlight. During this time he also competed in the Macau Grand Prix and the Ultimate Masters of Formula Three race.

GP2 Series


Bakkerud driving for Super Nova in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season.
Bakkerud took part in the 2007 GP2 Series season for the DPR team,[1] paired with Spaniard Andy Soucek. The season was disappointing, as Bakkerud failed to score any points. He also suffered back injuries, trapping nerves whilst racing on two separate occasions.[2]
He moved to the Super Nova team for the 2008 GP2 Asia Series, reinforcing his unlucky reputation by retiring from all but three of the races.[3] He remained for the 2008 GP2 Series proper, he suffered a recurrence of his back injury after a collision with Ben Hanley in the first race.[4] He was replaced by Soucek whilst he recovered,[5] and made his return to the cockpit at Monaco, after missing the championship round at Istanbul. He crashed at the start of the sprint race at Monaco, briefly going airborne after hitting Kamui Kobayashi. He did not suffer a recurrence of his back injury despite a heavy landing.[6] However, the injury flared up once more following a testing session, and he withdrew from the rest of the season on medical grounds. He was replaced by Soucek.[7]

DTM


Christian Bakkerud on the Hockenheimring 2009
In 2009, Bakkerud raced in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in a two-year-old Audi A4 for Futurecom-TME.

Le Mans

Bakkerud also made his Le Mans début in 2009, driving an Audi R10 TDI privately entered by Colin Kolles's team. Paired with Christijan Albers and Giorgio Mondini, he finished ninth overall and in class. He returned to the event in 2010 with the same team and car, but on this occasion he, Albers and Oliver Jarvis failed to finish.

Retirement

Bakkerud retired from driving following the 2010 Le Mans race. In the year prior to his death, he worked as an import manager at a shipping company.[8]

Death

On September 10, 2011, Bakkerud was involved in a car crash at the Tibbet's Corner roundabout at Putney Heath, near Wimbledon Common. He died a day later, in St George's Hospital, from his injuries. He was driving an Audi RS6 at the time of the accident; a police investigation is ongoing.[8][9] Travelling south on the A219 on Tibbet's Ride from Putney Hill, the car appeared to fail to negotiate a left turn into the large roundabout itself and instead travelled onwards and hit a thick, 1.5-metre (4.9 ft) high concrete barrier on the inside of the dual lane roundabout. The car then flipped over the barrier, fell down a steep 3-metre (9.8 ft) grass incline before smashing through the steel fence separating the bridleway and pedestrian/cyclist underpass routes. Crash investigators used yellow spray paint to mark skid and impact points on the road and where the car flipped over the barrier. The straight skid marks showed his car crossed from nearside to inside lane, as the road veered left at the roundabout entry, before it made a glancing blow on a heavy steel crash barrier prior to the barrier impact some six metres later.[citation needed]
Within a week a large number of flower bouquets were left at the location where the car came to rest. Police had also erected a yellow sign appealing for witnesses, which stated the accident occurred at about 6am on September 10.
Formula One team HRT, led by Colin Kolles, added a tribute to Bakkerud to the livery of their cars during the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix weekend.[10] McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton also paid tribute to Bakkerud by wearing a helmet featuring his initials.

Racing record

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points
2007 David Price Racing BHR
FEA

13
BHR
SPR

Ret
ESP
FEA

12
ESP
SPR

Ret
MON
FEA

Ret
FRA
FEA

Ret
FRA
SPR

12
GBR
FEA

Ret
GBR
SPR

21
EUR
FEA

Ret
EUR
SPR

18
HUN
FEA

Ret
HUN
SPR

DNS
TUR
FEA

DNQ
TUR
SPR

DNQ
ITA
FEA
ITA
SPR
BEL
FEA

12
BEL
SPR

Ret
VAL
FEA

Ret
VAL
SPR

Ret
32nd 0
2008 Super Nova Racing ESP
FEA

Ret
ESP
SPR
TUR
FEA
TUR
SPR
MON
FEA

10
MON
SPR

Ret
FRA
FEA
FRA
SPR
GBR
FEA
GBR
SPR
GER
FEA
GER
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
EUR
FEA
EUR
SPR
BEL
FEA
BEL
SPR
ITA
FEA
ITA
SPR

27th 0

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
2008 Super Nova Racing UAE1
FEA

Ret
UAE1
SPR

11
IND
FEA

Ret
IND
SPR

14
MAL
FEA

Ret
MAL
SPR

Ret
BHR
FEA

Ret
BHR
SPR

Ret
UAE2
FEA

Ret
UAE2
SPR

9
27th 0

Complete DTM results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos Points
2009 Audi HOC1
14
LAU
14
NOR
15
LAU
DSQ
OSC NÜR
13
BRH
16
CAT
17
DIJ
Ret
HOC2
12
19th 0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Class No Tyres Car Team Co-Drivers Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2009 LMP1 15 M Audi R10 TDI
Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
Germany Kolles Netherlands Christijan Albers
Switzerland Giorgio Mondini
360 9th 9th
2010 LMP1 15 M Audi R10 TDI
Audi TDI 5.5L Turbo V12
(Diesel)
Germany Kolles United Kingdom Oliver Jarvis
Netherlands Christijan Albers
331 DNF DNF
To see more of who died in 2011 click here

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