PICTURES: de Angelis, Barbera collide at 150mph.

This was the heart-stopping moment when Alex de Angelis and Hector Barbera collided at 150mph, while battling for victory on the final lap of Sunday's 250cc Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul.

The terrifying incident occurred on the exit of the flat out right-hand turn 11, which leads to the final chicane, as Barbera and de Angelis slipstreamed around either side of race leader Hiroshi Aoyama - then collided as they crossed lines in front of him.

de Angelis, who was slightly behind Barbera at the moment of impact, came off worse - his Aprilia becoming briefly airborne before he somehow brought it back from the brink of no return - but he couldn't prevent it spearing sideways off the track and onto the grass, still at high speed, before regaining further control as he reached the asphalt run-off area for the final chicane.

It was a miraculous save, but what the circuit cameras didn't show was that de Angelis still didn't have enough room to stop in time - and actually hit the tyre wall at the end of the run-off area, before bravely remounting to finish 12th.

Meanwhile, Barbera had regained control of his Aprilia and went on to finish second behind Aoyama, who capitalised on the chaos to retake the lead, with a somewhat shocked Andrea Dovizioso - who came within inches of being tangled up in the early stages of the incident - third.