But even the 23-year-old from Portadown must have been shocked to find himself caught up in the massive accident which marred the opening round of the DTM, the German touring car championship, at Hockenheim on Sunday.

Yet amid the carnage of the first lap crash, which saw two top drivers including multi Le Mans winner Tom Christensen taken to hospital, Carroll stepped from the wreckage of his Audi and calmly switched off the engine of another injured driver's car.

Carroll, who has spent the past two years racing the Formula One feeder series, GP2, was making his debut in the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) for the Futurecom TME team but had started from back in 17th place on the grid.

Up ahead of him Christensen's Audi had spun halfway round the opening lap, the car ending up broadside across the track where it was rammed by the Mercedes of Scottish girl Suzie Stoddart. Then the Audis of Carroll and Frenchman Alex Premat became involved.

"I could see something had happened in front of me and all of a sudden I was in a cloud of smoke and everything was black," said Carroll.

"I tried to move away from the smoke and get some vision but then I hit someone hard. I don't know who. I got out and spoke to Alex (Premat) who was lying on the ground and then switched off his car which was still running.

"I am fine but my car definitely is not - that will be a big job to fix.

"It's easy to say after the event, but I actually think I could have had a good race. I'd had problems in qualifying but I made a decent move into turn two and would have got past a few people. But then it was game over."

Suzie Stoddart was also unhurt but both Christensen and Premat, one of Carroll's rivals from GP2, were taken to hospital although it appears neither has been seriously injured despite the enormity of the accident.

Kristensen suffered extensive bruising and Premat is reported to have sustained a rupture of a lumbar vertebrae. Although doctors have confirmed that the injury will not result in any permanent damage, Premat's DTM career will be put on hold for several weeks.

Carroll's team, meanwhile, face the task of re-building his A4 Audi in time for the next round at Oschersleben on May 6 - a race Christensen won last year.