Alsacian driver André Haller, who was resident of Strasbourg, shared a Datsun 260Z with Claude Buchet and Jean-Luc Favresse in the 1976 edition of the 24 Heures du Mans, which would be his second participation in this classic event. At 21h00 Haller began a new stint in the Datsun and, on his very first lap out of the pits, he lost control of it at the entrance of the Mulsanne kink. The car slid and spun several times over the grassy verges of the track, hitting the right side armco and catching fire. The Datsun only stopped after two hundred meters, at the exit of the kink, on the left side of the track. Haller was rescued, but succumbed a few hours later at hospital, victim of chest injuries. Haller, forty-seven year old, was a restaurant owner in Strasbourg, France.
The 1976 24 Heures du Mans was marred by another fatality, when marshal Jacques Jussien died of heart failure in the morning of the same day, shortly before the start of the race.
R.I.P
