MACAU: A Hong Kong racing driver died after his touring car slammed into a barrier and burst into flames yesterday in the second death in two days to rock the iconic Macau Grand Prix.

Organisers gave no details about the accident which killed Phillip Yau, 40, but footage screened on television showed his Chevrolet Cruze crashing at high speed and catching fire before rolling to a halt.

Yau was cut from the wreckage but he died 40 minutes later in hospital. The tragedy comes after Portuguese motorbike racer Luis Carreira was killed in one of two serious accidents at the Chinese territory’s street circuit on Thursday.

Officials said they would not cancel the weekend’s racing and defended their safety record. The multi-race event also suffered fatalities in 1994 and 2005, and a tourist was killed in 2000 when a car left the track.

“Unfortunately it is not very pleasant to have two accidents in two days,” Macau Grand Prix committee coordinator Joao Manuel Costa Antunes told a press conference.

“But every track has challenges and the track of Macau as a street circuit presents challenges that all the drivers have the opportunity to learn.

“I don’t think there is any question about the track,” he said, adding that it has existed for 60 years and is approved every year by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the world governing body for motorsport. — AFP

• Please wait.

• O'Gara retires to take up coaching role
• Shields up to push claim for higher honours
• Dane Hoyer Larsen elected BWF president
• Crusaders slap down upstart Blues in soggy Christchurch
• Cycling: Leader Van Garderen wins California time trial
• Golf: Keegan Bradley maintains Byron Nelson lead
• Golf: Korda seizes lead at Mobile Bay LPGA
• Bradley stays in charge, Guan exits
• Hall of Famer Venturi dies aged 82
• Formula One: Increased venom as F1 tyre war erupts again