Tragic Rally Crash: Georges Bollengier & Laurent Thilliez Killed at Dunkerque 1992 🚗

French rally driver Georges Bollengier and his co-driver Laurent Thilliez were killed in a horrendous accident which happened on Saturday, 16 May 1992 during a special stage of the second edition of the Rallye National de Dunkerque. The event was a round of the 1992 French Rally Cup, held in Nord department, northern France.<br /><br />Their Ford Sierra Cosworth #32 left the road, rolled, fell into a ditch and crashed into a gas pipeline which exploded. Both the racers were killed at the scene. Seven members of the fire brigade, operating in the rally, who intervened to help them were burned while extinguishing the fire which was so intense that the car was completely burned.<br /><br />The rally was immediately suspended after the tragedy and the remainder of the day's special stages were canceled.<br /><br />It was reported that Georges Bollengier - whose surname was spelled by some sources as Boulanger - was a rookie driver at his rally debut. More experienced Laurent Thilliez, had participated earlier in French Rally Cup events as co-driver to Serge Hereng and Jean-Christophe Pailleux.<br /><br />R.I.P