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Fittipaldi Airlifted to Hospital With Broken Legs

Pietro Fittipaldi sustains suspected leg fractures in high-speed accident in Spa WEC qualifying…

Pietro Fittipaldi has been airlifted to to a Liege hospital with suspected fractures to both of his legs following a heavy accident in qualifying for Saturday’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening Total Six Hours of Spa.

The 21-year-old Brazilian lost control of his No. 10 DragonSpeed BR Engineering BR1 Gibson after the car appeared to have some sort of electrical glitch, before slamming head-on into the barriers at the high-speed corner.

While immediately attended to by trackside medical staff, including FIA Medical Delegate Jacques Tropenat, it took nearly 20 minutes to extract Fittipaldi from the car, before being transported by air to Centre Hospitalier de la Citadelle de Liege.

According to a statement released by the FIA, Fittipaldi was conscious at all times and is currently in stable condition.

He has been accompanied to the hospital by team owner Elton Julian.

The accident, which caused significant frontal damage to the Dallara-built car, has likely ruled the team’s LMP1 effort out of tomorrow’s season-opener.

Fittipaldi was due to share driving duties with Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman.

The grandson of two-time Formula One world champion Emerson was due to contest this year’s Indianapolis 500 with Dale Coyne Racing.

He was serving as a substitute driver this weekend for Renger van der Zande, due to the Dutchman’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments at Mid-Ohio. 

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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