Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing Tomas Enge Medical Update - Sunday, April 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 1, 2007 – Less than 18 hours after a violent accident in the Sports Car Challenge at St. Petersburg American Le Mans Series race, Tomas Enge (a native of the Czech Republic living in Monaco) is awake, alert and resting at the Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Fla. Following overnight evaluation, X-Rays and CT scans of the Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing driver, it has been determined that he has suffered a severely shattered elbow, cracked ribs, a partially collapsed lung and a potentially broken ankle. All the serious injuries were to his left side. Despite being extremely sore and bruised from the accident, Enge is talkative with medical and team personnel and is his lighthearted and humorous self. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ X-Rays of Enge’s elbow and ankle will be reviewed today by renowned orthopedic surgeon Terry Trammell. Once his recommendations are made, it is anticipated that Enge will be transported to Indianapolis’ Methodist Hospital where Trammell’s practice is located. Because of the partially collapsed lung, as well as soreness, Enge will not be transported to Indianapolis until Monday at the earliest. The date of Enge’s surgery, its duration and magnitude, as well as his projected recuperation time have not been determined at this time. Enge was injured in a serious accident on Saturday during the running of the second American Le Mans Series race of the season. Near the two hour mark of the two hour, 45-minute race, the driver’s side of the No.31 MMPIE/PAWS/Petersen Holdings/Michelin Ferrari F430 GT made heavy contact with the retaining wall between turns three and four on the 14-turn, 1.8- mile temporary street course. Enge, who had the fastest qualifying lap and set fastest race lap for the event, was leading the GT2 class at the time of the accident. Additional information will be made available as it becomes available. Electronic well wishes for Enge are welcome and can be sent to Tom@PetersenMotorsports.com and will be forwarded to Enge. Quotes Dale White, Team Manager/Entrant: “Tomas is back to himself 100% today. That is really good to see. You always hope for the best and try to fight thinking the worse in situations like this. But, even last night, he was the same-old Tomas so all the fears of the worse are gone. Scott Atherton, the American Le Mans Series and the staff here at Bayfront have been tremendous and we want to thank them. We are working on all the details of what comes next in his treatment and recuperation and we will let everyone know the details as soon as we can. On behalf of the Tomas and the team I want to thank everyone for the incredible outpouring of support. There is no way we can express our gratitude.”