ROME (Reuters) – Former Formula One driver and two-times Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi was flown to hospital by air ambulance on Friday after a serious accident while racing his handbike in Italy.
Siena’s Le Scotte hospital confirmed to Reuters that the 53-year-old Italian, who lost both legs and nearly his life in a 2001 Champ Car crash at Germany’s Lausitzring, had been admitted.
The Italian news agency ANSA reported sources saying the accident involved a truck on a state highway near the town of Pienza to the south-east of Siena.
Zanardi is also a four-times Paralympic gold medallist in road cycling.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante in Rome, writing by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
