YOUNG racing driver Chris Law walked unscathed from a horror crash on Sunday. Competing in the Snetterton round of the British Renault Clio Championship, the 16-year-old Elizabeth College student lost control at more than 80mph on the first corner of the East Anglian track. It is estimated that he rolled two-and-a-half to three times in the air and a further two-and-a-half on the ground before the car came to rest on its roof.

Helped out of the wreckage by race marshals, miraculously the young Sarnian did not have a single bruise. But his 130mph Renault Clio Sport race car was a write-off.

‘I’m actually OK, but it was a bit of a frightening experience,’ said Chris back at home in the island yesterday. ‘When I was in the air and I knew I was going to spin, I gripped the steering wheel. I spoke to my data man afterwards and he said that I could have broken my thumbs by doing that, so I was very lucky.

‘It was my first big crash and I wasn’t ready for it. I was taken to the medical centre and rang my dad straight away,

‘I was pretty sorry about the car, but my dad said that as long as I was safe, it didn’t matter.’

Father Will was at the other end of the pit lane from where the crash happened so did not see it. He found out only when it was announced over the public address system.

‘I was concerned and I wasn’t, because when I saw him, he was getting out of the car and I know how safe it is,’ said Mr Law.

‘He seemed OK and he was very sorry about the car. It’s one of those things. If he hadn’t been trying, he wouldn’t have been getting into

the top 20.’

Mr Law also received phone calls from worried friends in Guernsey who had watched the crash live on satellite channel Setanta Sports. The race is also likely to be shown on ITV1′s Motorsports UK show in the the next few weeks.

It was a cruel way to end Chris’ s weekend after he had finished 17th in the previous day’s race to register his first points of the championship in his debut season.

Still too young for a full licence, he has spent only 30 hours or so driving any type of car and he is sitting 33rd out of 48 in the championship standings.

And until his crash, Chris had been looking likely to pick up some more points after a great start.

He had managed to avoid a couple of other cars that had collided before he drifted too much in the first right-hander and hit the grass verge side-on.

‘He knew he had had a good start and that could have been one of his best results of the season and even better than the day before,’ said his father.

‘I think he would have been in the top 15.’

Guernsey’s World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx made a name for himself in the late 90s with blistering results in what was then called the Renault Spider Championship.

And Chris said the incident had not put him off racing. His next outing – in a new car – will be at Brands Hatch early next month.

‘I’m OK with it because I know how safe the car is,’ he said.

‘It was just unfortunate. I’m looking forward to Brands Hatch – I’m hoping for a top 10 because I did so well there last time.’