F1 driver Webber seriously injured
HOBART, Australia _ Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber suffered serious injuries when hit by a car Saturday during a charity multi-sport race, police said.
Webber, who drives for F1's Red Bull team, was cycling along a road near historic Port Arthur in the southeast of the island state of Tasmania when he collided with a four-wheel drive vehicle, Tasmania Police Sgt. Jon Ford said.
"As a result of the collision, the rider, Mark Webber, suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries," Ford said. "He was attended at the scene by paramedics attached to the event before being airlifted to the Royal Hobart Hospital."
A Royal Hobart nursing supervisor said Webber had been transferred to Hobart Private Hospital, where a hospital spokeswoman who would not identify herself said she had been told to make no comment on Webber's condition.
Media reports quoted search and rescue police officer Damian Bidgood as saying Webber appeared to have a serious lower leg injury.
"Unfortunately he's had a head-on," Bidgood said. "It will put him out of action for a while."
Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio quoted rescuers as saying that Webber had broken one of his legs, along with other undetermined injuries.
The accident happened while Webber was competing in his own charity event, the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge, a 250-kilometer (175-mile) challenge using mountain bikes, kayaks and trekking, when the accident happened.
Webber Challenge media manager Nancy Cook played down the accident, saying Webber was disappointed his race ended with the crash.
"Mark's been involved in a minor accident, he's fine, he's being treated, he's really disappointed that he's not going to be able to continue but he's well and being looked after," she said.
Red Bull has already begun testing ahead of the 2009 F1 season, with Saturday's accident to have a major impact on Webber's preparation for the season beginning in March. The team's next scheduled testing session is in Jerez in southern Spain from Dec. 9.
Ford said the event was being raced on open public roads and it was not known whether the stage along that road was cordoned off for the racers.
The challenge, first staged in 2003, is scheduled to end Sunday in Hobart.