Tragic mistake made at TT
A tragic mistake at the Isle of Man has seen officials wrongly name a person as deceased, when in fact he was alive, and instead it was his team-mate that had died.
35-year-old Olivier Lavorel, from Sillingy, France was reported as killed in an incident during the first Sidecar Race of the 2022 Isle of Man TT Races. The accident occurred at Ago’s Leap, just under 1 mile into the Course, on the opening lap of the race.
However, last night in an official statement, TT organisers admitted a terrible mistake had been made in the identification process, and in fact they now believe Olivier Lavorel has survived the crash, albeit in critical condition, while officials now believe sidecar driver César Chanel is actually the one that was declared dead at the scene.
Of course, we can’t speculate as to how this terrible mistake happened, we weren’t there, and no doubt the accident scene was quite horrific.
Competitors are required to wear military style identification dog tags but it is unclear if the French duo were wearing that form of ID.
Massive condolences to the friends and family of both César and Olivier, and also to the TT officials and medical staff. They have trod this path many times before, thus there must have been some extenuating circumstances for the misidentification to have taken place.
Official TT Statement
On Saturday 4th June during the opening lap of the first Sidecar Race of the 2022 Isle of Man TT Races, an accident at Ago’s Leap involving outfit number 21 of César Chanal and Olivier Lavorel resulted in the death of one of the competitors.
The race was stopped with the deployment of full-course red flags, and medical personnel, a Travelling Marshal, and the emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene.
One of the competitors sustained injuries that would not support life and was sadly declared dead at the scene. The second competitor was unconscious with severe injuries.
The injured competitor was treated at the roadside before being transferred to Noble’s Hospital, and then airlifted to a specialist hospital in Liverpool to receive treatment.
An initial identification procedure was conducted using established procedures and would appear to have resulted in a mistaken identification.
We now believe it was César Chanal who died at the scene of the accident on Saturday 4th June. Olivier remains in a critical condition and continues to receive treatment.
Both competitors’ families have been informed.
A thorough review of the processes relating to the identification of competitors will take place in due course.
Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of both Olivier and César at this truly devastating time.
We ask that people do not speculate on social media.
– ENDS –
