NIGEL Worswick has admitted he has been left shaken by the horrific crash at the Lurgan Park Rally that saw four people taken to hospital.

But the Blackburn driver has refused to pin any blame on organisers of the prestigious event after the Mitsubishi Lancer of Northern Irish driver, Dickie Curran, slid off the road and into the spectator area.

Four fans were taken to hospital with injuries, including one man with a broken leg.

An investigation has been launched by the Motors Sport Association into the incident, although Curran has said that the accident was caused by driver error after his brakes locked, causing him to miss the last chicane.

And Worswick, who himself crashed out and narrowly missed a tree before going on to finish in 11th place, revealed members of his team were close to the incident when the car careered off the road.

He said: "It won't put me off, but it's just a horrible feeling. The poor driver, you never want to be responsible for hurting innocent people. I feel terrible for him.

"The sad thing about it is that nobody deserved any of it. The organisers put barriers up and spent thousands of pounds on them the whole way round the track.

"They don't deserve any criticism. They did everything they could."

As far as the rally was concerned it was a case of what might have been for Worswick and co-driver Clive Molyneux.

After being seeded 10th, the duo got off to a flying start and battled their way to sixth.

But the chasing pack, driving more high spec cars than the East Lancashire pair, were hot on their heels.

And Worswick admitted their attempt to pull away almost cost them dear.

He said: "I knew that I was going to have to go faster. We were on a really fast piece of gravel and we nearly got away with it. But the car spun off onto the grass and we only just missed a tree. That cost us 11 seconds and we ended up 11th.

"We're obviously very pleased to run so high up early on in the rally given that our car isn't in the same league as some of the other ones that were competing.

"I'm just kicking myself that we spun off."