Frenchman Clairay unhurt after smash.

Twenty three-year old French driver Yann Clairay has walked away from one of the most potentially disastrous accidents seen at Le Mans since Peter Dumbreck's infamous Mercedes flip in the late 1990's after suffering a tyre failure in his Paul Belmondo Courage.

Sharing the #37 Belmondo Racing Courage C65-Meacachrome with Didier Andre and Jean Bernard Bouvet, Clairay suffered a spectacular left rear tyre failure at full chat on the approach to Indianapolis, a place on the 8.45-mile Le Mans circuit where the LMP2 prototypes are running at the sharp end of 180mph.

With the entire rear bodywork assembly torn clear off the car Clairay was helpless to stop the car rotating violently into the outside barriers where, for a frightening few moments it became airborne.

Slamming front first into the barriers for a second time the front bodywork was also torn off before the car came to a smoky halt at the side of the track.

Distraught and probably a little dizzy, Clairay was able to remove himself from the wreckage with no difficulties, although his exit was hastened when a minor fuel fire erupted on the grass to the rear of the car.

Back in the pits, team boss Belmondo, who was due to drive the #37 himself before he incurred a cycling injury, told Motors TV that he believed debris was to blame for the demise of one half of his two-pronged LMP2 assault.

"Yann must have run over some debris because the tyre just blew up," commented the Frenchman. "We've been running three stints on our tyres with no problems and he was only on his second stint when it happened so it must have been debris."

Although a number of other cars were encountering difficulties as the evening drew on, Clairay's crash, which occurred shortly before the three and a half hour mark, was just the second official retirement of the race.