Burti sidelined by Spa shunt until 2002

The Prost GP driver announced today (Thursday) that he will miss the last two rounds of the 2001 championship - the US and Japanese Grands Prix on doctor's orders.

"The doctors have strongly recommended me not to go back to racing this year," said Burti. "The reason is that the accident in Belgium was very serious, and if ever I had another trauma in my head, the consequences would be worse. Doctor Hartstein [who led the team who treated Burti] told me I have to keep on resting until at least the end of December. Only after that date, I can think about my future and what I will do."

Prost has taken up its option on Tomas Enge to compete alongside Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the last two rounds of the 2001 season. Enge did a solid job in last weekend's Italian GP, finishing 12th.

"Luciano took a wise decision to listen to the doctor's advice and we are very confident he will totally recover from his accident," said Joan Villadelprat, Prost's managing director. "We will keep on watching his progress and supporting him as much as possible in the coming months.

"As regards to Tomas' performance in Monza, we were very happy with the work he did for us. He proved to be a hard-worker, enthusiastic and intelligent driver. What he has shown at the Italian Grand Prix led us to think that Tomas is the best possible choice to support the team's efforts in the remainder of the 2001 championship."

The French team has also confirmed that Czech racer Jaroslav Janis, currently racing in German F3, will be its test driver alongside Jonathan Cochet until the end of the year.