A teen motorsport star has died in an accident in a race this morning.
The smash happened on Saturday, July 1, during an event at Spa-Francorchamps, the home of the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Dilano van't Hoff, 18, from the Netherlands, was named by the Formula Regional European Championship Alpine (FRECA) as the young driver who lost his life, reports the Daily Mirror.
Terrifying footage of the incident shows the teen's orange MP Motorsport car spinning on track in wet weather after contact with another driver on the track.
Another car then hit into the side of his stricken vehicle at high speed as vision was hampered by spray from the rain.
The series said in a statement: "Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine sadly announces the death of MP Motorsport driver Dilano van't Hoff. The incident happened during Spa-Francorchamps race 2.
"We want to express our sincere condolences to the family, team and friends. Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps and SRO Motorsports Group join Alpine and ACI in expressing their sincerest condolences to the driver's family, team and friends."
A social media statement confirmed that the race will go ahead but a minute's silence will be observed before the start to honour Van't Hoff's memory.
It added: "Everyone associated with the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is devastated by the news that Formula Regional EU by Alpine driver Dilano van't Hoff lost his life in an accident during this morning's race. We express our deepest condolences to his family, friends and MP Motorsport."
Van't Hoff, was in his second full season racing in FRECA. In his first year, he managed one podium at Barcelona, finishing third place at that event in 2022.
Before that, he had spent 2021 racing in two separate Formula 4 championships. In the UAE version of the series, he finished second in the standings while he went on to win the Spanish F4 title that year.
Spa-Francorchamps was also where Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert died in 2019.
The Frenchman crashed into a tyre barrier after contact with another driver, after which he was deflected into the patch of Juan Manuel Correa who hit his stationary car at 135mph.
Due to the impact, both cars were torn to pieces and the drivers sustained serious injuries but Hubert was sadly pronounced dead at the circuit's medical centre around 90 minutes after the crash.
Correa was airlifted to hospital after breaking both his legs and suffering a spinal injury, and was later placed into a medically-induced coma but survived, but is now back competing in F2.
In a statement on Saturday, Van't Hoff's team wrote: "MP Motorsport is deeply saddened to confirm that our driver, Dilano van't Hoff has passed away as a result of a crash during the second race of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine at Spa Francorchamps.
"We are devastated at the loss of one of our brightest Dutch talents, who brought so much energy to our team during the years he raced with us. Dilano has been a part of our racing family since his motorsport debut with MP back in 2021.
"We offer our sincere condolences to Dilano's family and his loved ones, and are in full support of them and our team members who have lost not only a driver but a friend as well."
Motorsport governing body the FIA said: "The FIA extends its condolences to the family and friends of Dilano van 't Hoff and to the MP Motorsport Team following the incident today during the Formula Regional European Championship event at Spa-Francorchamps."
And F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali said: "We are so sad to learn of the passing of Dilano van't Hoff today at Spa-Francorchamps. Dilano died in pursuit of his dream to reach the pinnacle of motorsport. Along with the entire motorsport community, our thoughts are with his family and loved ones."
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