IMOLA, Italy – Fans and family members are gathering this week to pay their respects to former Formula One drivers Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger on the 20th anniversary of their deaths.
F1 drivers’ chaplain Sergio Mantovani celebrated a memorial mass Wednesday in a packed room beside pit lane at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari track that once hosted the San Marino Grand Prix.
Ratzenberger’s parents Margit and Rudolf sat in the front row and were wiping tears from their eyes on the exact anniversary of their son’s death.
Ratzenberger, an Austrian rookie, was killed in qualifying on April 30, 1994 and Senna, a three-time F1 world champion, died the next day during the race.
Margit Ratzenberger says, “It’s hard for me. But I have to be here to remember my son.”
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