Fittipaldi to Sub for van der Zande at Spa, Fuji

Photo: Adrenal Media/WEC

Pietro Fittipaldi will sub for Renger van der Zande in DragonSpeed’s BR Engineering BR1 Gibson for the FIA World Endurance Championship rounds at Spa and Fuji, the team confirmed Monday.

The 21-year-old American-Brazilian, the grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi, joins full-season drivers Ben Hanley and Henrik Hedman at the wheel of the LMP1 car for what will be his sports car racing debut.

Fittpaldi got his first taste of a prototype in November’s WEC Rookie Test in Bahrain, having turned laps in the Porsche 919 Hybrid, courtesy of winning the Formula V8 3.5 Series championship.

In addition to the partial-season WEC effort, Fittipaldi was recently confirmed for a seven-race program in IndyCar with Dale Coyne Racing.

Fittipaldi replaces van der Zande in the team’s lineup for the two rounds due to the Dutchman’s full-season IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments with Wayne Taylor Racing.

While having been scheduled to miss Spa since the initial driver announcement, van der Zande has been forced to also skip the Japanese round as it was moved to Motul Petit Le Mans weekend to accommodate Fernando Alonso’s Formula 1 schedule. 

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