Misadventure verdict recorded following death of French TT racer

César Chanal died during the first sidecar race of 2022

The Coroner of Inquests has recorded a verdict of misadventure following the death of a French TT rider.

César Chanal died during the first sidecar race of 2022, on 4 June, after crashing near Ago’s Leap just minutes after the event got underway.

His passenger, Olivier Lavorel, died from the injuries sustained in the incident four months later.

Delivering her verdict at Douglas Courthouse this afternoon (17 February) Jayne Hughes said Mr Chanal had died from ‘significant and catastrophic’ injuries when their sidecar hit a wall.

However whilst the machine had suffered extensive damage as a result of the collision, and subsequent fire, checks had showed no mechanical defects had caused or contributed to the crash.

There was also, she said, no evidence of a poor or ‘contaminated’ road surface and no defects on the route.

Describing it as a ‘tragedy’ the coroner said there would remain a ‘question mark’ over the cause of the crash adding it could have been a momentary lapse of concentration, inexperience, a temporary mechanical failure or an ‘unexpected bump in the road’.

“Sadly as is often the case I am unable to provide that definitive answer,” she told the families of Mr Chanal and Mr Lavorel who were in the courtroom.

“Whenever anyone participates in a dangerous activity there is always a possibility that something can go wrong,” she added.

“For whatever reason Mr Chanal’s participation in the event went wrong – resulting in the collision, his death and later that of Mr Lavorel.”

Coroner Hughes also confirmed that she could find no evidence that the racers had deliberately swapped their identification tags, resulting in a case of mistaken identity, adding: “Only they know what happened.”

Closing the inquest Coroner Hughes paid tribute to the French racers’ families saying: “Thank you for your dignity and the way you’ve conducted yourself at this inquest.

"I hope this has provided some closure for you.”