Scherer from the podium to the emergency room: Swiss driver wins Le Mans with a broken foot

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Winning the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans is a physical and mental challenge in every category. Achieving triumph with a broken foot is… impossible? No. In this year’s race full of chaos and incident, Fabio Scherer (23) delivers one of the craziest episodes in Le Mans’ 100-year history.

During the first driver change in the narrow and hectic pit lane, Engelberger accidentally hits an opponent car over his left foot – but about 20 hours later, Scherer climbs with his two teammates Jakob Smiechowski (31, Pol) and Albert Costa (33, Sp ) as winner of the LMP2 class on the podium.

Immediately after returning to Switzerland to the hospital

Blick reaches Scherer on the return journey from Le Mans to Switzerland. “My girlfriend is behind the wheel, so I can put my foot up,” says the man from central Switzerland, adding: “My foot is very swollen and seems broken. When we get to Switzerland, we go straight to the first aid.”

During the race there was no time for a more detailed clarification of the injury. Because Scherer really wants to get back in the car and is being treated intensively by the team’s physio. “At first I thought it was all over,” he says. But then, thanks to much cooling of the swelling, Scherer gets his foot back into the racing shoe. When another driver has to be changed, Scherer stumbles to the car and accelerates again.

The adrenaline replaced the pain in the cockpit

With a broken foot to the Le Mans triumph. “No pain was too great for me to take this chance to win. Thanks to the adrenaline, I no longer felt the pain on the track. In the slow zones (after accidents, only 80 km/h may be driven, ed.) It was the worst, it hurt again. »

In the 600 hp strong car of his Polish racing team Inter Europol Competition, Scherer brakes with his left foot. Despite broken bones, he somehow manages to master the braking force of about 130 kg.

Because Scherer remained clear and fast even in the chaotic and partly wet night, his Polish team continued to push for the big dream of victory despite his injury. The Swiss also drove the last hour and a half to the finish. It’s a triumph: “I’m probably the first racer to win Le Mans with a broken foot!”

Source : Blick