Allan Weel Simonsen (5 July 1978 – 22 June 2013) was a Danish

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

, born in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

. He died after a crash during the third lap of the

2013 24 Hours of Le Mans The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance racing event for teams of three drivers entering Le Mans Prototype and LM GTE, Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance ...

Career

After beginning his career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

racing against the likes of future

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Champion

Kimi Räikkönen Kimi-Matias Räikkönen (; born 17 October 1979), nicknamed "the Iceman", is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2001 and 2021 for Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, and Alfa Romeo. Räikkönen won the 2007 Formula One ...

, Simonsen moved to cars in 1999, winning the Danish

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single-seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world have historically been an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

Championship. He raced in Formula Palmer Audi in 2000, before moving to German Formula 3 and Formula Renault 2.0 UK in 2001. Simonsen moved to

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

for 2002, driving a

Ferrari 360 The Ferrari 360 (Type F131) is a two-seater mid-engine rear-wheel drive sports car manufactured by Ferrari from 1999 until 2004. It succeeded the Ferrari F355 and was replaced by the Ferrari F430 in 2004. Development history Ferrari partnered ...

for Veloqx Motorsport in the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports G ...

. He began racing in Australia in 2003 for Mark Coffey Racing, driving a Ferrari 360 Challenge to 8th place in the 2003 Australian Nations Cup Championship for GT style cars and 2nd place in Group 2. He would then go on to finish in 8th place in the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour driving a Lamborghini Diablo GTR. In the 2004 Australian Nations Cup Championship, he drove the 360 to 3rd place in the Trophy Class while driving a V12 powered 550 Millennio in a limited campaign to 7th in the outright class. While in Australia, Simonsen also drove in the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (commercially titled Penrite, Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Auto racing, motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The even ...

and

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a Touring car racing, touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supe ...

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship, also known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship and historically as V8 Supercars, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération I ...

events. Simonsen's best Bathurst result came in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, when he finished third for Kelly Racing, driving alongside Greg Murphy in a Holden VE Commodore. Simonsen won the

Australian GT Championship The GT World Challenge Australia, formerly known as the Australian GT Championship, is a Motorsport Australia-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

(driving both a Ferrari 360 GT and a

Ferrari F430 The Ferrari F430 (Type F131) is a sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari from 2004 until 2009 as a successor to the Ferrari 360. The car is an update to the 360 with exterior and performance changes. It was unveiled a ...

) and finished second in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

driving a Ferrari F430 GT. At the 2011 Sprint Bathurst event, he set a blistering time of 2:04.95 around the famous Mount Panorama circuit. This was a monumental effort at the time, as it was a full 2 seconds faster than any V8 Supercar lap time and comparable to the Formula 3 lap record set in the following year. Simonsen's time was so quick that the officials initially removed it from the timing screens, for they believed it to be an error. It wasn't until it was confirmed by the manual time keeper and the team's own data, however, that the time was reinstated. Simonsen placed fourth in the 2007 Le Mans Series season, in a partial season driving a

Porsche 911 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

for Virgo Motorsport, which included a GT2 class win in the Nürburgring 1000. He drove Ferraris for Team Farnbacher in both the

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

as well as various international series from 2008 through 2011. During that time, Simonson won the GT2 class at the 2009 1000 km of Okayama with

Dominik Farnbacher Dominik Farnbacher (born 26 September 1984 in Ansbach) is a German sports car racing driver, and currently an SRT factory driver, driving an SRT Viper GTS-R in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship. Career After beginning his career in karting ...

and the SP7 class in the 2010 24 Hours Nürburgring with Farnbacher, Leh Keen, and Marco Seefried. He participated in the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

seven times between 2007 and 2013, finishing on the GT2 class podium twice: third in

and second in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Death

Simonsen Aston Martin Vantage GTE 2013 Le Mans

In the 9th minute of the

, and on his third lap, Simonsen was leading the LMGTE Am field with his No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE. At the Tertre Rouge corner, Simonsen's car twitched as he accelerated through the right hand turn, and when he attempted to correct, the car veered left before impacting the crash barriers on the outside of the corner. He was extricated from the car, reportedly conscious, before being taken to the on-site medical centre where he succumbed to his injuries. His death was the first in racing conditions during the

since Jo Gartner died in a

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

crash, while French driver

Sébastien Enjolras Sébastien Olivier Enjolras (4 April 1976 – 3 May 1997) was a French racing driver. Considered to be one of the most promising French drivers of his generation, he was killed in a crash during practice for the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans race ...

died more recently in a pre-qualifying session accident in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Race officials raised a

Danish flag The flag of Denmark (, ) is red with a white Nordic cross, which means that the cross extends to the edges of the flag and that the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. A banner with a white-on-red cross is attested as havin ...

at half mast over the circuit's podium during the race in honor of Simonsen. Fellow Danish driver Tom Kristensen won the race overall and dedicated his team's victory to the memory of Simonsen.

Memorials

The award for the fastest qualifier at the

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Meguiar's Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for Group GT3, GT and Production car racing, production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, New South ...

, which Simonsen won in 2013, is named the Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy.

Career results

Career summary

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Bathurst 24 Hour results

Bathurst 12 Hour results

International V8 Supercars Championship

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsen, Allan 1978 births 2013 deaths 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers American Le Mans Series drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British GT Championship drivers Danish racing drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA GT Championship drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Formula Ford drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Sportspeople from Odense Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in France Supercars Championship drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Britcar 24-hour drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers Kelly Racing drivers Van Amersfoort Racing drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Porsche Carrera Cup Asia drivers