British driver dies after collision

Motor racing

The British driver, Keith Odor, died in a German hospital yesterday from injuries suffered when his car was involved in a high-speed crash during a round of the Super Tourenwagen Cup on an improvised race track on the autobahn at Avus.

The 33-year-old Odor, who was in his fifth season driving for Nissan, had steered his Primera 2.0 GT to victory in the first of Sunday's two races, but the car left the track in the second event and collided with a safety barrier. The impact pitched the Nissan back on to the course where it was hit in the driver's door by a following car travelling at 118mph.

A delay in recognising the severity of the crash meant that rescuers took several minutes to reach Odor. It was a further half an hour before he was cut free and airlifted to hospital.

Odor, the son of the founder of Janspeed Engineering, Jan, was a regular competitor in the British Touring Car Championship and took Nissan to fourth in the 1992 BTCC constructors' championship. The following year he finished sixth in the race for the drivers' title.

This year he switched to racing in Germany with the BMS Scuderia Italia team.