Aitken ‘Moving On’ from Last Year’s Massive Accident

One year removed from his heavy crash at Raidillon, Jack Aitken says he is ready to “move on” ahead of his second appearance in the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa.

Aitken was one of a number of drivers caught up in a multi-car incident in the opening hour of the race one year ago, which left the 26-year-old British-Korean driver with a broken collarbone, fractured vertebrae and small lung contusion.

He was sidelined for ten weeks and missed three Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS events before returning to action at the Endurance Cup finale at Barcelona.

Twelve months later, Aitken returns to Spa still as part of Emil Frey Racing’s two-car Pro effort, piloting the No. 63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Albert Costa.

Aitken told Sportscar365 that he’s happy to be back competing in the Belgian endurance classic, saying he has no problems returning to the site of his accident.

“It’s nice to be back for the race and that the race is in full swing again after COVID the last couple of years,” Aitken said.

“Having the driver parade and all of that stuff, it is nice to have the full atmosphere again.

“No issue on my side to be back after last year. The crash was a big one but I don’t have any lasting trauma.

“My perspective has changed on a few things, maybe on the way that I go racing but the track has nothing specifically to do with that and I am happy to be back.

“It is one of the best circuits in the world, so always nice to be here.”

While he hasn’t raced at Spa since last year, Aitken noted that he has taken part in a number of test session at the venue, including with the Racing Team Turkey LMP2 squad.

Aitken admitted that while the crash has left no physical marks, it has led to a shift in his perspective.

“I think it’s normal when you have a big accident,” he said. “It was quite a traumatic event, such a big accident and then you get injured. It opens your eyes to the danger a little bit.

“That doesn’t mean I will go through Eau Rouge slower than I was a year ago but I think I am a little bit more aware of what can happen.

“The balance of risk and reward has changed a little bit for me.

“That’s part of getting older as well, maybe, getting a bit more experienced and also realizing that it was a little bit of bad luck.

“If it was a different day, maybe I would not have crashed and I would have been completely fine.

“I haven’t deliberately changed anything, but my mindset is a bit different than it was a year ago.”

Aitken added: “I’m happy with understanding what happened and I feel very lucky that it wasn’t worse. It is a part of my history, part of my career and just move on.

“It’s just one of these things that happens. Happy to be here without any permanent damage. It’s nice to be back.”

Spa Return “A Natural Thing”

Aitken noted he had his eyes on a Spa comeback for quite some time, as he was happy to continue with Emil Frey for a second year after making a transition into GT racing in 2021.

Since he was willing to continue racing in GTWC Europe competition, that naturally meant a return to Spa.

“It was a natural thing,” he said.  “Last year, my first year in GT went well and the team and Lamborghini were keen to have me back.

“I was happy to come back and do more and be in such a strong lineup with Albert and Mirko.

“Of course, that meant doing Spa again as part of the calendar. It was always a target to come back and to do well.

“I have a little bit the same approach as my first Le Mans this year: I want to finish and I want to finish well but accepting that you can have bad luck.

“In this race, we have 66 cars and maybe you’ll be happy to see 60 or 70 percent of the cars finishing.

“It is a very attritional race, so I want to finish and if we finish without problems we will be challenging for the win. So I was keen to come back for that reason.”