The young Dutch driver Dilano Van’t Hoff dies in Spa during a FRECA race
The 18-year-old driver Dilano Van't Hoff passed away this morning at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit after a horrific collision on the Combes straight during a FRECA race.
It’s a tragedy that sadly reminds us of the death of Anthoine Hubert on the same circuit four years ago. Dutch driver Dilano Van’t Hoff, competing in the Formula Regional Europe Championship by Alpine (FRECA) for the MP Motorsport team, was involved in a tragic accident this morning at Spa-Francorchamps, as a prelude to the 24 Hours of Spa.
The accident occurred on the last lap of the race, when the drivers were closely packed together after the safety car period. A collision involving several single-seaters then occurred on the straight of Les Combes. Then, Dilano Van’t Hoff came along and hit the barrier, ending up sideways on the track. His pursuers were unable to avoid him, disrupted by the reduced visibility caused by the wet track, and hit him at a speed of over 200 km/h.
The organizers of the 24h of Spa officially announced his death in the early afternoon. The F2 drivers paid tribute to the young Dutchman before the start of the sprint race in Austria with a minute of silence. Several F1 drivers also expressed their condolences to the family via social media, such as George Russell.
“The large CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and Spa-Francorchamps Circuit community is devastated by the news of the accidental death this morning of Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine driver, Dilano Van’t Hoff,” the circuit organizers wrote on Instagram. “All the planned activities on the starting grid of the 24 Hours of Spa have been canceled, and a minute of silence will be observed before the race start to honor Dilano’s memory.”
Dilano Van’t Hoff won the Spanish F4 championship title in 2020. At 18 years old, he finished 17th in the championship in 2022.
In 2019, the F2 driver Anthoine Hubert passed away following an accident in similar conditions, on the Raidillon section. Since then, there have been numerous discussions about safety at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, as we also witnessed in 2021 with Lando Norris’ high-speed crash during qualifying.
