Verschoor replaces injured Fittipaldi in F2 Abu Dhabi finale
Richard Verschoor will drive for Charouz Racing System in this weekend’s FIA Formula 2 season finale in Abu Dhabi in place of the injured Enzo Fittipaldi.
Verschoor drove for MP Motorsport in the first six rounds of 2021, but was replaced by Jack Doohan for the final two events due to “financial issues.”
But he will join Charouz in place of Fittipaldi, who continues his recovery from a startline shunt with Theo Pourchaire in Saudi Arabia last weekend.
Pourchaire stalled on the grid in Sunday's feature race and was then collected by an unsighted Fittipaldi, which triggered a nasty crash that immediately drew a red flag from race control.
Fittipaldi confirmed he escaped the incident with only a fractured right heel and cuts and bruises, while Pourchaire stated that he was “fine”.
First of all I would like to express my thoughts to @enzofitti. I hope you will recover well and very soon. Unexpected but I’m happy to be back racing and excited to do so with @charouzracing, hopefully we can end this season together on a high! #f2 pic.twitter.com/d4wG4o4ppN
— Richard Verschoor (@R_Verschoor1) December 8, 2021
In a tweet ahead of this weekend, Verschoor wrote: “First of all I would like to express my thoughts to @enzofitti. I hope you will recover well and very soon. Unexpected but I’m happy to be back racing and excited to do so with @charouzracing, 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.”
The Dutch driver sits 10th in the standings with 55 points and took his maiden series win in the reverse grid sprint race at Silverstone earlier in the season, which also marked his first podium in F2.
This weekend he will race alongside Guilherme Samaia for Charouz, with the squad currently 10th in the teams’ championship.
Verschoor struggled with financial challenges throughout this season, working on a race-by-race basis with MP Motorsport.
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He was operating without a manager, leaving him to secure his own sponsorship deals, which sees him act as businessman during the week and race driver on the weekends.
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