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Car flips over fence and kills fan at German endurance race

A car crashed in an endurance race at the Nurburgring Nordschliefe in Germany on Saturday, flipping over a fence and killing at least one spectator and injuring others.

The car, driven by Jann Mardenborough, became vertical as it lost control. He then flipped over the catchfence after impact with the tire barriers in front of the wall. Here's video of the crash. You do not see the car land on the other side of the track. It then cuts to Mardenborough out of the car and a crowd around the scene.

The race was the first of the VLN Endurance Championship Nurburgring. Here's a statement from the VLN via Autosport:

"The opening round of the VLN Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring was marred by an accident on Saturday which injured several spectators.

"One of the spectators died, despite the immediate actions of the rescue crew in the medical centre at the circuit.

"The other injured spectators have been taken to hospital for ongoing medical care.

"The race was stopped to give emergency crew quick access to the circuit, and wasn't restarted.

"The accident occurred in the Flugplatz part of the circuit, with a competitor leaving the circuit for a yet unspecified reason and finishing up behind the safety fencing.

"The VLN and the organisers are deeply saddened by the accident, and their thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims."

The VLN series is a 10-race series at Nurburgring involving both amateurs and professional drivers. The Nissan was reportedly entered in the race to prepare for the 24-hour race at the track, which is considered one of the most dangerous in the world.

Mardenborough, 23, got his start in racing by winning a video game contest in 2011 and last year won a GP3 race. GP3 is a lower-level series to Formula 1.

Nissan Motorsport (NISMO), said it was cooperating with the investigation of the accident.

The driver, Jann Mardenborough got out of the car and, after initial checks in the circuit Medical Centre, has been taken to hospital for further routine checks.Today's events have been a tragedy. We are all deeply shocked and saddened by these events and our immediate thoughts go to the deceased, those injured and their families and friends.The team is fully co-operating with the race organisers to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident.

In 2013, Kyle Larson's car flipped into the catchfence at Daytona International Speedway in an Xfinity Series race. The debris from the multi-car crash injured over 20 fans and crews worked the majority of the next night to fix the fence for the Daytona 500.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!