Rahul Patel bares the distinction as one of the few men in the US to strike gold in the lottery. This time last year – June 29,2009, to be exact – Patel parlayed a $1 Powerball lottery ticket into $25 million and with his new-found wealth, proceeded to purchase himself a nice, spanking new Audi R8->ke1440 about a week ago.

According to a number of reports, Patel was in the northbound side of Merritt Parkway somewhere between exits 46 and 47 when the R8’s engine inexplicably began smoking, causing the lottery winner to pull over on the shoulder to check up on his new toy. As soon as he stopped to check, flames suddenly burst out of the Audi->ke14 R8’s engine as Patel haplessly watched his new Audi supercar be barbecued by the ensuing fire. The result, as you can imagine, was a complete loss with Patel left wondering if his luck had finally ran out.

We feel bad for him for losing such a beautiful car after only purchasing it a week earlier, but on the other hand, it’s hard to empathize with the dude because he can probably afford a few more of these R8’s with the money he scooped up a year ago. That is, unless, he hasn’t burned through the winnings too.

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