British race car driver Sean Edwards died in a private testing accident in Australia on Tuesday, the Courier Mail (Australia) reported.
Edwards, 26, was killed on impact when the 996 series Porsche GT3 hit a tire wall. He was a passenger in the car, which was being driven by 20-year-old driver Will Holzheimer.
The son of 1970s F1 racer Guy Edwards was on a trip to Australia and was coaching Holzheimer, whose family owns Dellow Racing. The crash occurred at Queensland Raceway.
Holzheimer was trapped in the wreckage for three hours while emergency personnel worked to cut him free. He suffered severe burns and other injuries after the car went up in flames.
"He is awake and is aware of what's going on around him, but has extensive injuries to deal with," Ipswich police Inspector David Preston told the Courier Mail.
Queensland Raceway chief executive officer John Tetley said his general manager Keith Lewis and senior official Mike Dyson deserved "hero status'' for their efforts in trying to save the men.
"(They) got into Fearless, our fire truck, and managed to pull the car from the burning tires,'' he said.
"We have a trauma paramedic on site and he was one of the first people to rush to the accident ... We probably used about 35 to 40 fire extinguishers and a 50kg fire bomb to put out the tires.''
Tetley said the crash happened on the final turn when the Porsche went straight through the bend, crashing through tires and into a cement barrier behind.
"They had to cut the car in half and pull it apart piece by piece to get to the driver. Emergency services saved his life," he told the Courier Mail.
Edwards drove his father's car last year during filming for Ron Howard's film "Rush." Guy Edwards had been part of the rescue effort for Niki Lauda in Lauda's crash at the Nurburgring.
The younger Edwards was in his fifth year of competition in the Porsche Supercup, according to NBC Sports.
Wins at the Circuit de Catalunya, Monaco and the Hungaroring brought Edwards to an 18-point lead in the series with two races remaining at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend next month. He had also won 24-hour races at Dubai and the Nurburgring this year and an ALMS race at Long Beach with Cisneros.
Edwards became known as a contender in the racing world in 2006 after he won the FIA's GT3 sports car championship at only 19 years old.
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