Verschoor replaces injured Fittipaldi for Abu Dhabi

Jamie Woodhouse
Richard Verschoor at the pre-season F2 test. Bahrain, March 2021.

Richard Verschoor looks out as he attends the pre-season Formula 2 test in Bahrain. March 2021.

Richard Verschoor will contest the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi as the replacement to the injured Enzo Fittipaldi.

Lining up on the grid for the third and final Formula 2 race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Fittipaldi accelerated off the line and did not notice the stalled ART Grand Prix car of Theo Pourchaire ahead, crashing heavily into the back of the Frenchman’s challenger.

The race was red flagged as medical personal attended to both drivers, helping them out of their cars – Pourchaire was taken by ambulance to hospital, while Fittipaldi was flown by helicopter to the King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital.

There were grave fears for Charouz driver Fittipaldi, but fortunately the outcome was far better than initially feared, with the Brazilian racer suffering only a fracture to his right heel.

Pourchaire meanwhile was “fine”, and while his status for Abu Dhabi is still unclear, Fittipaldi as expected will not be behind the wheel for Charouz.

His place will be taken then by Dutchman Verschoor, who took to Twitter to confirm the news.

“First of all I would like to express my thoughts to Enzo Fittipaldi,” he wrote.

“I hope you will recover well and very soon. Unexpected but I’m happy to be back racing and excited to do so with Charouz Racing, hopefully we can end this season together on a high!

“Also I want to mention all of you that took time to send me messages to support me. Thanks to you and of course my sponsors I managed to make it happen! Let’s race.”

 

It marks a swift return to Formula 2 for Verschoor, who just last month had confirmed his exit from MP Motorsport and the series due to no longer having a budget behind him to continue.

“Money has always been my biggest rival and this time it did beat me,” he said at the time.

 

Enzo Fittipaldi