Bruno Blaise's Fatal Crash @ Rallye Des Crêtes 2022 (Aftermath)

  • 5 months ago
The experienced Belgian rally driver Bruno Blaise, 56-year-old, lost his life in an accident which happened on Sunday, 20 November 2022, during the Rallye des Crêtes, held near the town of Malmédy, province of Liège, Belgium.

Bruno Blaise lost control of his Opel Corsa A GSi, bearing the race number #54, on the approach to a bend in the village of Bellevaux, Malmédy, during the third and final special stage "Brasserie 1" of the rally. The car crashed violently into the wall of a house. The emergency crews arrived to the scene very quickly, but they could do nothing to save Bruno Blaise's life. He was pronounced dead on the spot.

His co-driver Géoffrey Razzi was taken by helicopter to a local hospital, with non life-threatening injuries as a result of the accident. After the tragedy, the special stage was stopped and the 27th Rallye des Crêtes, which was a round of the ASAF Rally Championship, was abandoned.

Considered as one of the best rallymen of the province of Liège, Bruno Blaise ran a coachbuilding business in the borough of Ligneuville, south of Malmédy. An active rally driver and co-driver, since the mid-1980s, during his career he took numerous class and outright victories, winning the Rallye des Crêtes three times, the last in 2012.

Bruno Blaise's fatal crash took place a mere two weeks after a double fatality which happened in another rally in eastern Belgium, the Rallye du Condroz-Huy, on Sunday, 06 November 2022, claiming the lives of two spectators, Margaux Remacle and Romain Landeloos.

The Rallye de Spa, final round of the 2022 Belgian Rally Championship, scheduled to be contested one week after his death, was titled as "Challenge Bruno Blaise" in his memory.

R.I.P