Fittipaldi Returns to U.S., Begins Recovery

Photo: Pietro Fittipaldi Twitter

Pietro Fittipaldi has begun his road to recovery following his leg-breaking accident in the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening weekend at Spa-Francorchamps earlier this month.

The 21-year-old Brazilian sustained multiple leg fractures in a high-speed crash in DragonSpeed’s BR Engineering BR1 Gibson, that was triggered by an apparent electrical glitch in the LMP1 non-hybrid.

While initially having been air-lifted to a hospital in Liege, where he underwent successful surgery, Fittipaldi has since returned to the U.S., where he is now undergoing a rehabilitation program in Indianapolis under the direction of renowned IndyCar doctors Terry Trammell and Steve Olvey.

Trammell and Olvey have tasked Jim Leo, President of PitFit Training, for Fittipaldi’s physical rehab. 

Fittipaldi shared a note to his followers on Twitter, stating: “Big thank you to everyone for all the kind messages I received over the past week. I’m in Indianapolis now working on my recovery. We will be back racing very soon!”

While missing this month’s Indianapolis 500, where he was due to make his race debut with Dale Coyne Racing, reports indicate Fittipaldi is targeting a return to the cockpit in eight weeks’ time.

In addition to a partial IndyCar schedule and a planned two-race WEC program with DragonSpeed, Fittipaldi, the grandson of two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson, was due to take part in a full season of Super Formula in Japan.

His next scheduled WEC race with the DragonSpeed outfit is the Six Hours of Fuji in October, where he is set to fill in for Renger van der Zande.

John Dagys

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