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.
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“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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