Sergio Hernandez was able to escape with a bruised foot from his he♔a♎vy accident during the opening race of the World Touring Car Championship meeting on the streets of Porto.

The BMW Team Italy-Spain driver had qualified down the order after a tough qualifying session at the Portuguese street circuit, which left him in the middle of the pack for the rolling start when race one got♏ underway.

A slow start from Tom C💫oronel backed up a number of drivers behind, and - with cars going three wide - Hernandez touched wheels with the LADA of Jaap van Lagen.

Tha🦩t contact saw Hernandez go heavily into the concrete barrier on the start-finish straight, destroying the🌌 front of his car and leaving the Spaniard needing a trip to hospital.

Luckily, Hernandez escaped without broken bones and is expected to make a quick recovery from the bruising he sustained in the impꦐact.

"I'm okay, although my foot still gives me a lot of pain," he said. "The doctors say th🥀at I will be much better in a few days. The impact was rea🌼lly hard. But fortunately the BMW 320si WTCC is an extremely safe vehicle."

Dutch driver van💛 Lagen also escaped injury, although the damage sustained in the accident was enough to rule the LADA driv♌er out of the remainder of the weekend.

"It was a real pity but just one of those racing incidents," he said. "I made a great start and I was confident that we could move up the order but then I ended up with nowhere to go, so my weekend was over before it had begun. Th♍ese things happen in racing but it's still very disappointing."