French rally driver Christian Saffa was killed during the 15th edition of the Rallye de Picardie, a round of the 1990 French Rally Cup. The accident happened at 11h30 on Sunday, 07 October 1990, during the seventh special stage of the rally, in the village of Chaussoy-Epagny, Somme department in northern France.
While traveling at high speed along a long straight line, for unknown reason the yellow Renault 5 GT Turbo #57 driven by Christian Saffa left the road and went up an embankment. The car flew up in the air about 25-30 meters and then rolled over five times, before coming to rest in a field. During the rolls the driver was thrown through a door which was opened by the force of impact, being killed instantly.
Despite he was almost uninjured, Saffa's co-driver Frédéric Froment was transported to Amiens hospital. Winners of the rally were Jan-Hug Hazard-Gérard Caizergues in a BMW M3. This was reported to be the second fatality which marred the Rallye de Picardie in three years, after the death of co-driver Patrick Maine on 10 October 1987.
Christian Saffa started his career in the mid-1980s, at the wheel of a Peugeot 104 ZS, competing in rally-sprints, before switching to a Volkswagen Golf GTi 1.6. He scored two class wins in 1985 - in the Rallye Régional de Thiérache, with Patrick Mauro as co-driver and in the Ronde Régionale des Flandres, with Frédéric Froment. The Rallye de Picardie was his second start in the Renault 5 GT Turbo that he acquired in 1990. Earlier in the season he participated in the Rallye Régional de Thiérache, finishing fifth in his class, 14th place overall.
R.I.P
