The horrific accident that claimed the lives of four members of the same family, happened at 19h30 on Friday, 27 July 2001, near the end of the 7.75-kilometer tenth special stage of the Rally della Lana, between the villages of Lessolo and Gauna in province of Turin, north-western Italy.
The event was a round of the 2001 European and Italian Rally championships. At the end of a fast downhill road, close to the village of Gauna, town council of Alice Superiore, the Ford Escort RS 16V Group N #75, driven by the Italian team Enrico Lavino Zona-Elena Camusso went out of control at a speed of about 120 km/h (75 mi/h), on the approach to a right U-turn. The white and yellow car left the road on the right side, hit a road sign, overturned through bushes and ran over a family of spectators. The car came to rest on its side, against a small wall on the road below.
Four persons were killed in the crash. Domenico Bertolino, a 43-year-old electrician, his wife Paola Marta Bertolino, née Sado, 41, and their son Simone Bertolino, 13, died at the scene. Their daughter Eleonora Bertolino, 8, was pronounced dead on arrival in Ivrea hospital, where she was rushed immediately after the accident. The Bertolino family resided in the nearby village of Cerone di Strambino, province of Turin.
An amateur rally driver, Enrico Lavino Zona, 40-year-old, and his co-driver Elena Camusso, both from Quaregna, province of Biella, Italy, escaped unhurt.
Eyewitnesses reported that possibly the accident was caused by the presence of ballast and sand on the tarmac. Before the accident several drivers including Fabrizio Ratiglia, Grégoire Hotz and others reported that in the stretch where the accident took place, the tarmac was much more slippery than in the rest of the stage. At the time the criminal and dangerous practice of throwing sand and ballast on the road has been fought by Italian Police and Carabinieri, and the rally organizers adopted more constant control on the sections before the start of the stages.
The event was immediately stopped after the accident. Renato Travaglia-Flavio Zanella in a Peugeot 206 WRC, who were leading at the end of the 11th special stage, were declared winners of the rally.
After a lawsuit almost four years long, in July of 2005 the driver Enrico Lavino Zona and the organizers of the rally passed final judgement, guilty of the charge of manslaughter.
R.I.P
