British racing driver Sean Edwards killed in Porsche smash

Sean Edwards, the British racing driver and the son of 1970’s F1 driver Guy Edwards, has been killed during a test session in Australia.

14:57 16 October 2013

Sean Edwards, the British racing driver and the son of 1970’s F1 driver Guy Edwards, has been killed during a test session at the circuit at the Queensland Raceway in Australia.

26-year-old Sean Edwards was a passenger in a Porsche 996 when the car hit the tyre barriers at the track.

Autosport reports: “Edwards was killed instantly on impact with the tyre wall on the outside of the track at Turn 6. The accident was initially attended to by onlookers after the car burst into flames on impact. The local emergency services spent three hours extracting the driver – a 20-year-old man from Brisbane – from the burning wreckage. He is currently in intensive care with life-threatening injuries."

Edwards, who joined the Porsche Supercup series in 2008, had recently appeared in the film Rush playing the role of his father in the scene in which he famously pulled Niki Lauda from his burning car in 1976. Edwards also acted as an advisor on racing scenes.

Following the news, tributes to the young British racer flooded social networking sites. Among those who posted on Twitter were Martin Brundle and David Coulthard.