Rally World suffers two more fatalities

The rally world had two more losses this Saturday (15). In the opening stage of the Asturias Rally Championship , the driver Julio César Castrillo and his co-driver Francisco Javier Álvarez died after a very serious accident when they collided with a tree.

On the penultimate stage of the Rally Villa de Tineo , Castrillo lost control of his Citroën, went off the track and crashed violently. The pilot died instantly, the co-pilot, Álvarez, also did not resist after being promptly rescued.

The stage, which had 86 vehicles, was suspended by the organization after the fatal accident.

The car was on a straight section of the track, apparently easy for such an experienced team, but something went wrong and it derailed at any moment. The causes of the tragic accident are still being investigated to clarify what could have happened, but the first indications point to a heart attack of the drive, or a stuck throttle as the trigger for the impact.

According to the newspaper ‘La Nueva España’, the first hypotheses point to the possibility that Julio César Castrillo suffered a heart attack during the Rally. The co-pilot would have tried to avoid the collision by pulling on the handbrake , but he would not have been able to avoid the impact at high speed, both of them dying instantly and the vehicle being completely destroyed.

“How sad for the entire motorsport family to hear about what happened at the Rally Villa de Tineo. My condolences and all my love to the families of Julio César Castrillo and Francisco Javier Álvarez. May they rest in peace”, wrote Fernando Alonso the two-time world champion.