William Holzheimer has undergone major surgery to the right side of his body following his horrific accident at Queensland Raceway last week.
The 22-year-old remains in an induced coma in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital after crashing a 996 Porsche GT3 Cup car head-on into the circuit’s Turn 6 wall.
Porsche Supercup star Sean Edwards, who was instructing Holzheimer from the passenger seat, was tragically killed on impact.
“William’s condition is critical and he has not regained consciousness since the accident,” confirmed his father, David.
“We are of course hopeful but extremely concerned.
“The surgery yesterday focussed on treating fractures on the right hand side of his body.
“He will have further surgery today for facial injuries and we are told that he will probably have more surgery later in the week.”
Mr Holzheimer said that while his family are focussed on his son’s recovery they also “think of Sean every day and our thoughts are with his family and friends during this very difficult time.”
Carrera Cup racer Craig Baird, who witnessed the horrific aftermath of the accident, had previously conducted training track days with young Holzheimer.
“I have also done training with Will and these track days are all part of the process of building towards being a professional race driver,” Baird said.
“Whatever the cause of the accident, we have sadly lost a talented person in Sean Edwards and Will is now fighting to recover.
“Everyone’s thoughts are with Will now.”
A university student, Holzheimer is an amateur race driver who had benefitted from extensive specialist driver education which he continued to do with Edwards, who flew to Australia specifically to offer his expertise.
Edwards was to have raced in the final round of Porsche Supercup on the undercard to the F1 grand prix in Abu Dhabi from November 1-3. He holds an 18-point lead going into the deciding round.
