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Swiss police clock rally driver at 195km/h

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Swiss police clock rally driver at 195km/h
Cannonball 2000 cars at the start of the rally at London's Canary Wharf. Photo: Facebook

Geneva police nabbed a 42-year-old motorist driving a Ferrari in the Cannonball 2000 sports car rally for speeding at 195 kilometres an hour on the A-1 Motorway, the cantonal force said on Thursday.

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The German driver of the Ferrari California with British licence plates was forced to pay 12,000 francs in order to continue to downtown Geneva after being caught on the highway in a 120km/h zone on Wednesday night, police said in a news release.

The vehicle, which is not owned by the driver, was clocked by a mobile radar speed detector just beyond the the border of the cantons of Vaud and Geneva, according to the release.

The driver, a resident of Singapore, was also caught driving 137 kilometres an hour in a 100 km/h zone in another part of Geneva.

Police issued a ban against him driving in Switzerland after said the man admitted to the speeding infractions.

The move came after police earlier issued a warning of a crackdown on participants in the Cannonball 2000, a rally from London to Marbella, Spain with stops in Amsterdam, Geneva, Cannes and Valencia.

Police spokesman Eric Grandjean said the 12,000-franc payment made by the speeder was an estimate of the fine that he faces, 20 Minutes newspaper reported.

“His file is in the hands of justice authorities.”

A criminal investigation has been launched, Grandjean added.

“With an excess of speed of around between 75 and 80km/h he entered into the range of a possible prison sentence of six to 12 months.”

The German’s car was not confiscated because it did not belong to him, according to 20 Minutes.

Most of the 50 participants in the rally heeded police warnings and decided to take roads through France to reach Geneva from Amsterdam.

One other motorist in the rally was caught speeding in a Cadillac CTS with Swedish licence plates on the A-2 Motorway, six minutes after crossing the Swiss border, police said.

He was travelling at 132 kilometres an hour in a 100km/h zone.

Border guards checked one rally driver in Basel and 49 others in Geneva, according to Geneva police.

The motorists behind the wheels of luxury cars spent Wednesday night at the five-star Hotel Kempinski and partied at a nightclub before heading off toward Cannes via the Route Napoléon in France on Thursday.

An organizer refused to call the event a “race”, although police said such events have a reputation for encouraging speeding that put lives at risk.

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