Laurens Vanthoor has been ruled out of this weekend’s Blancpain Sprint Series finale after sustaining a fractured hip and leg in a huge shunt at Misano.
The 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series champion, driving a Team WRT Audi R8, made contact with Jules Szymkowiak’s HTP Bentley Continental, which sent both cars into the barriers at speed during Saturday’s qualifying race.
Vanthoor was initially diagnosed with a fractured fibula but further examinations have since revealed a double fracture to his hip ruling him out of the Zandvoort championship finale.
“I’m out. In Misano it was clear that I had a fracture in my leg, the goal was still to start in Zandvoort,” wrote Vanthoor via his Facebook page.
“But after further examinations the doctors found out that I have two fractures in my hip.
“After consultation of different sport orientated doctors, I decided it would be to dangerous to drive in Zandvoort. I will start my recovery as soon as possible in order to be ready for Macau.
“At the moment I’m mentally pretty much to the ground, (it’s) extremely hard to accept that I will lose out to my two possible Blancpain GT titles after working like hell for it since a long time.
“I guess that’s life. Again many thanks for all the messages, I will pull back for a while and take some time for me. Hope to be back soon and even stronger.
“Thanks to Audi for building such a strong car, the doctors said I should be happy with these three fractures after such an impact.”
The news has forced Team WRT to search for a replacement driver to partner Robin Frijns for the Zandvoort round.
Vanthoor and Frijns are currently leading the championship standings by eight points from Maxi Buhk and Vincent Abril.
VIDEO: Laurens Vanthoor’s qualifying race crash
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