The Race of Champions saw more action than usual this past weekend. In the very first round, Heikki Kovalainen managed to stuff his Audi R8 GT into the wall while going head to head against Sebastien Loeb. Kovalainen clipped the inside barrier that separates the two tracks before spinning into a concrete wall, destroying his racer’s suspension and knocking himself unconscious in the process. Kovalainen said that a sticking throttle was the cause of the accident in his Twitter feed, though the video also looks like he simply got too close to the inside barrier.

Fortunately, Kovalainen was not seriously injured during the bang-up. Likewise, his girlfriend, who was riding in the vehicle at the time, walked away from the incident without so much as a scuff as well.

The Lamborghini Super Trofeo Cup saw a massive accident during Round 4 of the season. From what we can tell, the number 22 Gallardo LP560-4 driven by Giorgio Bartocci got off into the gravel on the last turn before the front straight. It’s unclear whether Bartocci was nudged by another racer or whether a mechanical failure caused the slide, but either way, the car hit the wall at considerable speed and nearly disintegrated on impact.

The driver’s side door sprung open as the car slid down the tarmac, and Bartocci could be seen flailing outside the vehicle. When it finally came to a stop, the Raging Bull turned into a raging fireball. Fire crews initially took longer than expected to pull the driver from the wreckage and were seen using underpowered fire extinguishers to battle the blaze. The FIA is expected to investigate the incident. Amazingly, Bartocci survived the ordeal and is currently in intensive care.

Lamborghini canceled the remainder of the event and rounds six and seven have been indefinitely nixed as well. Hit the jump for a video of the incident.

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Attached below is an image captured by one of our contributors on a casual Sunday afternoon. It shows AutoTrader.ca being completely overloaded by traffic, crashing. This is a clear indication of a mismanaged Internet department.

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