Michael Park (co-driver)

Michael Park, nicknamed " Beef " ( born June 22, 1966 in Hereford, † 18 September 2005) was a British co-driver in rally racing. Park was married to his wife Marie and father of two children, William and Victoria.

Life

He was killed on 18 September 2005 at the Wales Rally GB, a round of the World Rally Championship, when he and his driver Markko Märtin clashed with their Peugeot 307 Co -driver - side against a tree. Märtin did not suffer any injuries. The Peugeot team then took his second driver, Marcus Grönholm, from the classification of the rally. At the time of the accident the pairing Märtin / Park was # 4 on the World Rally Championship in 2005. According to the announcement of the accident, the race organizers canceled all following stages, which would have meant not only the Langerringen of total victory, but also at an early stage of the world championship title in 2005 for Citroen's Sebastien Loeb. Instead, he took deliberately a time penalty on himself in order not to win under these circumstances. At the medal ceremony, all flags were hoisted at half-mast and held a minute's silence.

Michael Parks rally career in the WRC began in 1994. He also drove at with Mark Higgins and the rally world champions Colin McRae and Richard Burns. Since 2000, Michael Park started on the side of Estonian Markko Märtin, first in a private Toyota, Subaru and then Ford factory team, last Peugeot factory team. With him he achieved five victories in the World Rally Championship.

Awards

• 2000 and 2003 were Märtin / Park voted Team of the Year in Estonia