The fourteenth edition of the Rally du Plan-de-la-Tour was held on Saturday, 19 and Sunday, 20 May 2012. Officially named 14ème Rallye Régional Le Plan-de-la-Tour - Pays des Maures, it was organized by the ASAC du Var Comité Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. The event was composed of seven special stages - four on Saturday, three on Sunday and all on paved roads - covering a total of 40.02 kilometers.
The second special stage, called Langastoua - Vallaury 1 and held on the afternoon of Saturday, had an extension of 7.35 kilometers. It was made by the linkage of two departamental roads: a 4-kilometer long stretch on D72, and the remaining on the more tortuous D44. The two roads are connected by a T junction - named Carrefour de Vignes as it is surrounded by vineyards -, where the D72 dead-ends on the D44. At that point the cars had to abruptly slow down and made a very tight, 120-degree turn into the D44.
Driver Yann Buron and navigator Jean-Luc Ferrero were one of the teams competing in the rally. They raced with a bright orange Volkswagen Golf in the group F2 and class 14. On the first stage, La Mourre, the two were classified in 35th place amongst the 147 teams that completed it. At about 16h30 Buron and Ferrero approached the Carrefour de Vignes at high speed but, instead of slowing down and making the turn into the D44, the Golf simply went straight on. It crashed into a crowd, instantly killing two people, a spectator and a rally marshal. Fifteen others, including three minors of 9, 12 and 17 years of age, were injured. Five of the victims were said to be critically wounded, including the 12- and the 17-year olds.
The two deceased people were: Thomas Gillet, 20-year-old of Callian, department of Var, the son of the owner of the Cercle Bar in Callian; and the marshal Eric Juvin, 49, of Saint-Jeannet, department of Alpes-Maritimes, France, a member of the Sport Mecanique association which organized the Rallye de Saint Marcellin.
According to Dominique Demeyer, a witness, "The car went off straight ahead. It crashed into a row of spectators first before hitting an embankment that separates the vineyard from the road shoulder and taking off, mowing down other people who were further off." Several victims were thrown away far deep into the vineyard. All spectators hit were located behind a tape marking the safe zones.
R.I.P
