During his second appearance at France’s iconic Le Mans 24-hour race, Michael Fassbender crashed the Porsche 911 he was driving on Sunday, cutting short his stint behind the wheel. Fassbender was not injured according to local media and was able to get the car back to the pits before it was officially retired, Eurosport reported.
The two-time Oscar nominee was racing as part of Germany’s Proton Competition team and had about 15 minutes left in his six-hour slot before slamming into a barricade at the “Porsche Curves” part of the racetrack.
Following the accident, Proton Competition tweeted: “We are gutted! Car #911 is no longer running the Le Mans 24 race…. Fassbender lost control of the car and went into the barrier with no chances to repair the damage… Le Mans was [not] kind to us this year!”
This was Fassbender’s second time participating in the endurance race. He previously made his debut last year, also with Proton. In 2021, he scored his first podium, finishing second at Portimão, and in 2022 took a third place in Le Castellet. Before his first Le Mans, he told Top Gear, “I’m never going to be a professional racing driver, but I’m super passionate about it, it means so much to me. And I want to reach my full potential.”
Other actors to have participated in the Le Mans race in the past have included Paul Newman and Patrick Dempsey.
Here’s video of the crash posted by the official Le Mans Twitter account:
This year marked the 100th anniversary of the race with Ferrari AF Corse taking the trophy.