---

---

---

---

---

---

---

Former Indy car and Formula 1 star Alex Zanardi will make a full-time return to motorsport as a BMW factory driver in the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series after a four-year absence.

Zanardi, who won two gold medals in hand bike racing at the 2012 London Paralympics, will race a BMW Z4 GT3 for the same ROAL Motorsport (formerly Ravaglia Motorsport) squad with which he contested the European Touring Car Championship in 2004 and the world championship from 2005-09.

The two-time CART title winner will drive his V8-powered Z4 alone in the one-hour races of the championship, formerly known as the FIA GT Series, after a rule change last year designed to encourage physically challenged drivers. His BMW will be specially adapted with the hand controls he fine-tuned during his return to racing in touring cars in the wake of the Champ Car accident in which he lost both legs at Lausitz in 2001.

Zanardi said he was motivated to make a comeback after testing a DTM BMW M3 at the Nurburgring in November 2012 (BELOW).

"When I took to the track in the DTM car at the end of 2012, I immediately got itchy fingers again," he said. "Ever since that moment, I have been toying with the idea of returning to motor racing. Together with BMW, we have looked at various options and I am pleased that it has worked out with my old friends at ROAL Motorsport."

BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt added: "I cannot express how delighted I am that one of the greatest heroes in the history of BMW Motorsport is returning to the cockpit of one of our racing cars. From both a human and a sporting aspect, Alex is a role model to all of us."

Zanardi's program will encompass six of the seven weekends that make up the Sprint Series, which will leave him time to continue his preparations for a Paralympic return in Rio next year.

Racing alone in the series will offer Zanardi no advantage: the driver change element of the mandatory mid-race pit stop is generally completed before all four wheels have been changed.

ROAL will field two Z4s in both the Sprint Series and its sister Blancpain Endurance Series.

---

---

Alex Zanardi has been racing BMW race cars since 2003, but this month’s drive at the DTM race weekend in Misano will mark something new: For the first time ever, he will race without his prosthetic legs.

Here’s how Zanardi explained the rationale for racing without the prosthetic:

“Cool! I took off, I looked down and.. Boy! Didn’t I forgot something?!? 4 the 1st time I’ll use my hand to push the brake and not my leg, which will stay in the garage.. Anyhow, with the BMW M4 DTM, I regain all the sensations from my singleseater days!”

To prepare, the 51-year-old is at Vallelunga today and tomorrow for a series of intensive tests with the modified BMW M4 DTM. Zanardi is adjusting to several modifications in the cockpit which will allow him to push the DTM car to its limit without using his prostheses.

BMW Motorsport engineers have developed many technical innovations for his start in the DTM and at the 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona, including a hand-operated braking system for the first time. Here are some of the changes:

Hand-operated brake system

Zarnardi will have a newly developed hand-operated brake system at his disposal for the first time. This replaces the combination of brake pedal with a permanently attached artificial leg, which Zanardi has used to brake on his previous outings in BMW race cars. The advantage of this new system is that it requires less effort and is thus far easier to operate.

The brake lever is located to the driver’s right, in the center console area. The brake lines have been extended and laid from the footwell to this lever. As a result, the pedal box, with the throttle, brake and clutch pedals, is no longer necessary. The footwell in Zanardi’s BMW M4 DTM is empty. The large brake cylinder has been adjusted slightly, meaning Zanardi need not apply quite as much pressure by hand as a regular DTM driver must with his foot to achieve the required braking effect. Where a regular driver must apply 100 to 120 kilograms of pressure (220 to 260 pounds), a maximum 70 kilograms (154 pounds) is sufficient for Zanardi. As well as the size of the brake cylinder, the improved leverage of the handbrake lever also makes the whole braking procedure easier.

For the new system to work, the BMW Motorsport engineers turned the operating principle of the brake cylinder on its head. While the brake pedal in a normal BMW M4 DTM exerts tensile force on the brake cylinder, the handbrake lever in Zanardi’s car applies pressure to the cylinder.

As with every BMW M4 DTM, Zanardi’s car also has a parking brake, which is used to build up preload pressure to allow the fastest possible start. Like his fellow BMW drivers, Zanardi can operate this parking brake via a button on the steering wheel. However, he can also mechanically activate and release the parking brake via a lever on his handbrake. This also allows him to prevent the car from rolling.

Centrifugal clutch

In a standard DTM car, the drivers use a hydraulic clutch for the start of the race and for pulling away from the pit lane before the race and following a pit stop. In Zanardi’s car, a fully automatic centrifugal clutch is used instead. This automatically opens and closes at certain engine speeds and is no longer operated by the driver. The respective engine speeds are defined by BMW Motorsport engineers as part of their meticulous set-up work. For Zanardi, the system has the great advantage that he does not need to use one of his hands to operate a clutch lever.

Initial tests with the centrifugal clutch have been very positive. Both the pulling away slowly from the garage and the fast getaway at the start or after a pit stop have worked seamlessly. The sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (60mph) is roughly as fast with the centrifugal brake as with the conventional system.

In principle, Zanardi can change gears in his BMW M4 DTM via the shift paddles on the steering wheel, just like his fellow drivers. Furthermore, it is no longer necessary to operate a clutch in any modern DTM car. Like all the other drivers, Zanardi uses the shift paddle on the right side of the steering wheel to shift up through the gears.

When necessary, he can move down through the gears normally with the respective shift paddle. However, as this procedure is usually associated with a braking maneuver for which the right hand is needed, Zanardi can also downshift using a shift paddle on the end of the brake lever.

Throttle ring

The system, with which Zanardi accelerates in the BMW M4 DTM, was adopted from the GT cars modified for him in the past. He accelerates by using his fingers to pull on a throttle ring on the rear of the steering wheel. The continuous ring can be operated with both hands, or just with the left or right hand. This plays no role in the way the system functions. The throttle ring is controlled using the same sensors as the standard throttle pedal.

Steering wheel

The steering wheel, including the throttle ring, is basically the same as those used in the GT cars that Zanardi has driven in the past. Only the buttons have been adjusted for his guest appearance in the DTM. For example, a DRS button has been added. Meanwhile, the knobs towards the bottom of the steering wheel, which are used to configure driver aids such as ABS in GT cars, have no function in the BMW M4 DTM.

---

---

“It feels like a gold medal.”

When Alex Zanardi was told he crossed the finish line in fifth place in the second of two DTM guest drives this weekend at Misano, he swore it was a joke.

“This the best joke of the weekend… Come on, you’re kidding me. I am an old man, you cannot tease me this way!” he radioed back to his crew.

---

---

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Every now and then Alex Zanardi has a chance encounter with someone who reminds him there's never any reason to feel sorry for himself, not that he ever had during his two vastly different lifetimes: the one with legs, and the other as a double-amputee.

There was once a brief meeting in a hospital with a fan who talked Formula One and Ferrari with him over a cup of coffee. When he saw the man later that day, sobbing and holding a small child, Zanardi offered him comfort.

The man was crying tears of joy. His daughter, born without legs, had been fitted for her first pair of prosthetics that day. When the technician asked for her shoes to set the balance, the father had none. He'd rushed off to purchase his daughter's first pair of shoes and was overcome with emotion by the simple errand.

"The next time I found myself alone in front of a mirror I said, 'You never dare complain about what happened to you,'" Zanardi said.

Only Zanardi has never complained, not even in the immediate moments after he awoke in a hospital room in Germany without his legs.

Both had been severed in a horrific crash during a 2001 race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, four days after the Sept. 11 attacks, a weekend in which CART was the only U.S.-based sports league to compete as scheduled. Zanardi was a two-time CART champion recently returned from a second stint in F1 and had plowed through the field to lead laps for the first time since he'd left the series after his 1998 title.

The crash occurred when Zanardi spun his car after a pit stop and he was hit by another driver. Both legs were severed at impact, blown to pieces and part of a debris field that went as far as the eye could see.

"It looked like a bomb blast, I wasn't even sure where the crash scene was and when I got to him, I remember the first thing I said is, 'Where are his legs?'" recalled Dr. Terry Trammell, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the series' renowned safety team. "It was essentially a war injury, one that is not survivable."

Blood poured out of Zanardi's body onto the track and Trammell frantically tried to fashion tourniquets. He used Zanardi's firesuit on one leg and a safety crew member handed Trammell his belt for the other. The Italian driver, 34 at the time, went into cardiac arrest on the helicopter ride to Berlin. There he was rushed into surgery and spent days in a medically induced coma before learning the extent of his injuries.

"Everybody probably thought when I woke up I was going to ask myself, 'How the hell am I going to live with no legs?'" Zanardi said. "And I simply asked myself, 'How the hell am I going to do all the things I have to do with no legs?'"

Now 52, Zanardi has seized every moment in the 17 years since and will cross off yet another remarkable achievement this weekend at Daytona International Raceway when he competes in the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona endurance race. He will race for the first time without prosthetics, using a steering wheel designed for him by BMW that allows him to drive with hand levers.

Zanardi was an established racing superstar before his accident and his accomplishments since transcend sports. An inspirational figure with indomitable spirit, he designed his own prosthetics — he jokes he made himself taller — and learned to walk again. Then he returned to racing in touring cars. After that came hand cycling, a class victory in the New York City Marathon and four gold medals spanning two Paralympic Games.

For good measure, he took up triathlons and in has gone under the 9-hour mark in several Iron Man competitions. Zanardi uses a handbike for the cycling portion and a wheelchair for the running portion.

"He's a great champion, a hero, a role model. I mean, where do you stop?" said former teammate and close friend Jimmy Vasser. "The things that he continues to do to show the way how to live your life every day — he probably wasn't here for a minute of this life, but he came back and he just continues to inspire everyone he comes into contact with."

Zanardi by nature is both affable and exuberant, and his infectious air of positivity has made him the shining star at an event stacked with some of the biggest names in racing. Almost everyone in the field watched video of Zanardi and his teammates practicing the driver change earlier this month, a choreographed exercise he has perfected. Team RLL can complete the switch, which includes swapping the steering wheel, in less than 15 seconds.

"It started at 30-second driver changes and above, then got it down to 14 seconds. It's amazing how he can actually get in quicker in the car than I can," said teammate Jesse Krohn. "He's super positive and never lets things hold him down. He's always finding a way to make things happen. It took time to find a way that suits him. What he can do on track and off track, he doesn't have a disability."

The race has become a reunion with old friends and a perpetual meet-and-greet with the upcoming stars of motorsports.

Zanardi zips around the paddock on an electric chair and is consistently stopped by racers eager for a minute of his time and a selfie as a souvenir. There are four other drivers in the Rolex field who last shared the track with Zanardi in that race in Germany in 2001. Others have only heard of his feats, both before and after the accident. Zanardi's 1996 pass of Bryan Herta in the corkscrew of the Laguna Seca, California, road course is considered one of the most magnificent in racing history, and he's recognized as the creator of the post-race victory doughnuts most NASCAR drivers do now.

British driver Katherine Legge said she's asked for only two autographs in her entire life — Phil Collins as a child, then Zanardi at an industry event several years ago. John Edwards, one of his teammates in this race, received Zanardi's autobiography for Christmas when he was 13.

"I think you learn a lot more about life from Alex than you learn about tips and tricks from racing," said Edwards, who is 27. "This guy, in my mind, was a legend and had gone on to do a lot of incredible things. Even after his accident."

When Zanardi first entered CART in 1996, as the teammate alongside Vasser at Chip Ganassi Racing, the two became lifelong friends as they won a combined 23 races and three consecutive series championships. Vasser remembered asking Zanardi about his interests and was surprised that "Rocky," about the underdog Italian-American boxer from Philadelphia, was his favorite movie.

"That says a lot, though, about his strengths, right? I asked him why because 'Rocky' isn't exactly the deepest movie," Vasser said. "He said, 'No! Rocky was very smart, very clever.' But that says it all, Alex ever since I've known him, he's just never given up. He's an animal, a lion."

All the praise for Zanardi has at times embarrassed him over the last month as he's listened to friends share their favorite stories about him. Most are about his humor, or the way he tells a story with intricate details and a touch of exaggeration, and of course, about the way he's inspired each and every one of them.

Zanardi, showing a hint of bashfulness, considers every step "another chapter in a fairy tale of a life."

"Disabilities are a very relative condition, it is something that defines a situation, but if you can't jump over the problem then you can certainly go around it," Zanardi said. "We all are limited in that none of us can fly and none of us can run faster than some animals, but we figure out a way to go to Tokyo if we have to, right? Or we run faster than an animal with a race car.

"Of course I have no legs, which doesn't help, but I'm here and I just try to deliver the best I can."

---

---

---

---

---

---

Alex Zanardi is at risk of brain damage as a result of a head-on crash with a truck during a hand cycling race in Italy.

The former F1 driver, who famously lost his legs in a horror American open-wheeler crash in 2001, crossed into the oncoming lane on a downhill bend and sustained serious head injuries.

Corriere della Sera said the race was not officially sanctioned because of the corona shutdowns, which is why the oncoming lanes were not closed to traffic.

Zanardi, 53, underwent neurosurgery and facial surgery and according to the hospital in Siena "was transferred to intensive care with a reserved prognosis".

Critical care Dr Sabino Scolletta told Italian media that the hand cycling Olympic champion, now connected to a ventilator, had arrived at hospital "with practically all the bones in his face broken".

"The neurological picture is what remains serious, the physical conditions remain stable," he said.

"In the next few days we will evaluate him neurologically if the conditions allow. Will he be the champion of before? We hope so and we are all here for that reason."

However, he admitted that brain damage or a deterioration of his condition is a possibility.

"It may get worse, that is possible, but currently he is stable," said Dr Scolletta, adding that Zanardi is also at risk of "damage to his vision".

"When the brain is less inflamed, the maxillofacial partners will have to intervene to also rebuild the facial part, which we have neglected a bit because there was an immediate risk of loss of life," he added.

---

---

Alex Zanardi is set to remain in a medically induced coma until at least next week, doctors have confirmed.

The ex-Formula 1 driver was airlifted to hospital on Friday after being involved in a road accident while riding his handbike on a highway in Italy.

He was immediately rushed into surgery to treat was doctors described as a "severe head injury" before he was moved to intensive care.

On Tuesday Le Scotte hospital in Siena, where the 53-year-old is being treated, confirmed he had spent a fourth night in intensive care, and said there would be no effort to reduce his level of sedation to assess his "neurological status" until at least nest week.

A statement from the hospital said Zanardi's "neurological picture remains unchanged in its severity," adding: "The patient remains sedated, intubated and mechanically ventilated. Any reductions in sedo-analgesia, for the assessment of neurological status, will be considered starting next week."

Over the weekend the Head of Neurosurgery Dr Giuseppe Olivieri told the Associated Press agency that Zanardi was in a "a very serious situation".

“We won’t see what his neurological state is until he wakes up — if he wakes up," Olivieri said. "Serious condition means it’s a situation when someone could die. Improvement takes time in these cases.

“Turns for the worse can be sudden. The operation went according to the plan. It’s the initial situation that was very serious.”

Best wishes have continued to pour in for Zanardi from around the racing and sporting world, with the hashtag #ForzaAlex trending on social media in his honour.

---

---

Alex Zanardi's eyesight is at risk as a result of the hand cycling crash that has left him in a coma with serious facial and head injuries.

Giuseppe Olivieri, the neurosurgeon who operated on the former F1 driver turned paralympian, announced on Tuesday that the 53-year-old Italian will remain in a coma for a further 10-15 days.

"We don't know how much of the coma is due to the drugs and how much is due to the neurological conditions," he told Italy's Sky Sport 24.

Olivieri praised the doctor who initially worked on Zanardi after he swerved onto the wrong side of the road during a race and collided with a truck.

"The greatest merit belongs to the anaesthesiologist who intubated him correctly," said Olivieri. "It was difficult to do it in the middle of the street with a patient in that condition."

An update provided by the Santa Maria alle Scotte hospital in Siena, Italy, said on Tuesday that the "neurological picture remains unchanged in its severity".

"The patient remains sedated, intubated and mechanically ventilated."

There is speculation that the serious facial injuries suffered by the former Williams driver could cost him his eyesight.

"The former Formula 1 driver is at risk of losing both eyes," said the Swiss newspaper Blick. The same information was carried by the German news agency SID.

---

---

Ferrari have announced their cars will carry a "#ForzaAlex" message at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend in support of ex-F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who remains in intensive care after after a road accident earlier this month.

Zanardi, 53, raced in Formula 1 for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams in the 1990s and is also a two-time CART champion. After he lost both legs in a CART crash in 2001, he took up handbike racing and has won four gold medals at the Paralympics.

On Friday, June 19, the Italian was airlifted to hospital after he was involved in an accident with a truck while riding his handbike on a highway in Italy, and he has remained in intensive care ever since.

As a show of their best wishes to the former Grand Prix driver, Ferrari announced on Tuesday that they would carry the #ForzaAlex message on either side of the roll hoop, just under the camera on the engine air intake, of both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc's SF1000 cars at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.

The news comes after doctors treating Zanardi at Le Scotte hospital in Siena confirmed he had was in a "stable" condition after undergoing a second operation on Monday, after a CT scan showed "an evolution of the patient's state which made it necessary to resort to a second neurosurgery."

The hospital statement said the operation took two and a half hours, and afterwards he was returned to the intensive care unit where he remains sedated and intubated. His status remains "severe from the neurological point of view".

Roberto Gusino, director of health at the hospital said: "The intervention represents a step that had been hypothesized by the team. Our professionals will evaluate the evolution of the situation day by day."

---

---

Alex Zanardi is "only sometimes conscious" as he recovers from his serious head and facial injuries following a full month in hospital.

That is the word of Father Luca Poli, a priest at the rehabilitation clinic where the former Formula 1 driver is now recovering.

Zanardi's son Niccolo said this week that he is currently less concerned about the 53-year-old's eyesight, and more about "whether he can communicate with us again".

"The rehabilitation will take a long time," Niccolo said.

Now, Father Luca Poli tells La Gazzetta dello Sport following a visit to see the hand-cycling Olympic champion: "Alex Zanardi is only sometimes conscious and he gets tired quickly.

"Sometimes he's awake, sometimes not," he said.

"After the transfer from Siena to here, he was very tired and I could only see him briefly. I also couldn't take his hand because we have to keep our distance from the patients in these times.

"What is certain is that this is a man with an incredible will to live. Honestly, I don't know where he gets his energy from," Father Poli added.

"I also see a man surrounded by a loving family, but also very important is what comes from the patient himself.

"I'm not talking about physical strength. I believe that recovery depends more on the patient's own will than on the work of the doctors," he said.

---

---

...on Friday, per Reuters, doctors at the Villa Beretta rehabilitation clinic released a statement saying that Zanardi's condition was unstable and as a result he was being returned to intensive care at the San Raffaele Hospital, just south of the rehabilitation clinic, in Milan.

---

---

Former F1 racer Alex Zanardi’s clinical condition has been described as “stable” following the latest medical intervention required over a month on from his serious handbike accident in Italy.

That accident – which saw Zanardi collide with a vehicle whilst competing in a race near Siena – resulted in a “severe head injury”, causing the racing driver and Paralympian to be put into an induced coma, and to undergo several neurological surgeries.

Having been moved last week to a specialist rehabilitation centre in Lecco, Zanardi was subsequently moved again to the San Raffaele Hospital near Milan in an unstable condition. But following “a delicate neurosurgical procedure”, Zanardi’s condition was deemed to have stabilised.

A statement from the hospital said: “The day after the transfer to the Neurosurgical Intensive Therapy, directed by Professor Luigi Beretta, the patient underwent a delicate neurosurgical procedure performed by Professor Pietro Mortini, director of the Operative Unit of Neurosurgery, for the treatment of some late complications due to the primary head injury.

“At the moment, the clinical and radiological tests confirm the success of the aforementioned treatments, and the current clinical conditions of the patient, still hospitalised in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, appear stable.”

Zanardi started 41 Grands Prix for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams in F1 from 1991-1999, and won two CART championship titles in America before a shocking racing acccident in Germany in 2001 resulted in his legs being amputated – with Zanardi then inspiring millions by going on to win four gold medals for handbike racing in the Paralympics, as well as returning to racing cars.

---

---

Alex Zanardi has regained his sight and hearing and is able to give non-verbal responses to questions as he continues his recovery from injuries and subsequent surgeries following a handcycle crash in June.

According to Italy’s Corriere della Sera, the 54-year-old is able to respond to questions with gestures, shake hands and recognizes his wife Daniela. He remains unable to speak due to a hole in his trachea that is being kept open as a precaution, however Corriere reports that Zanardi’s medical team view these latest signs of progress as encouraging for his prospects of regaining the majority of his brain function.

---