Jésus Pareja (born 6 March 1955) is a retired

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. Pareja drove in the FIA World Sports-Prototype Championship, the Spanish Touring Car Championship and Global GT Championship.

The 1990 Montreal incident

Pareja was involved in a massive accident during the 1990 WSPC round at Montreal. On his 59th lap driving a

Porsche 962C The Porsche 962 (also known as the 962C in its Group C form) is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the Euro ...

entered by (and shared with)

Walter Brun Walter Brun (born 20 October 1942) is a Swiss former racing driver and founder of Brun Motorsport. He also co-founded the Formula One team EuroBrun EuroBrun Racing was an Italian-licensed Formula One constructor based in Senago, Milan, Italy. T ...

, he hit a fragment of a manhole cover which had been torn out of the ground by a car further ahead. Several cars hit the debris but Pareja was especially unfortunate. His fuel tank was ruptured and the car immediately burst into flames. Remarkably, the marshals were able to put the fire out and rescue Pareja.

Later career

Jésus Pareja was a winner of the

Le Mans 24 hours The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

in the GT2 class in 1994. From 1999, Pareja had been involved with the running of the European GT Championship and the Spanish

Formula 3 Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

Championship. Jesús Pareja is the founder and CEO of GT Sport which was created in 1998 and runs the International GT Open and the Euroformula open.

References

1955 births Living people Spanish racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers {{Spain-autoracing-bio-stub Larbre Compétition drivers