Laurens Vanthoor to miss Blancpain GT finale with hip fracture

Audi factory driver Vanthoor crashed heavily during the qualifying race at last weekend's Misano round.

The injury to his right leg on Monday was discovered after he returned home to Belgium for further tests.

It is in addition to a hairline fracture of the fibula of his left leg that was found at the Misano circuit medical centre straight after the accident on Saturday evening.

It was unclear if this would have prevented him from racing at Zandvoort, but the latest diagnosis means that his WRT Audi team is now working on finding a new team-mate for Robin Frijns in the Netherlands.

WRT boss Vincent Vosse told AUTOSPORT: "Robin will definitely be there at Zandvoort."

He explained that a plan, which includes finding a car to replace the Audi R8 LMS ultra heavily damaged in the accident, had yet to be formulated.

Vosse revealed that he would have an "emergency conference call" with the team this afternoon.

Vanthoor and Frijns lead the BSS by eight points from HTP Motorsport Bentley duo Maximilian Buhk and Vincent Abril, with a total of 34 up for grabs over the final championship weekend.

They also lead the Blancpain GT Series, which is awarded on the basis of results in the BSS and the sister Blancpain Endurance Series, by 27 points.

The accident happened when Vanthoor, who had started from the back after a pre-race engine change, tangled with the second HTP Bentley driven by Jules Szymkowiak on the second of Misano's three straights.

The stewards deemed that Vanthoor was at fault and awarded him a five-race grid penalty for Zandvoort, which will not now be taken by the #1 Audi because it is only applicable to the offending driver.

Vanthoor tweeted this afternoon: "I'm out. Fracture in my leg and double fracture in my hip. Extremely hard to accept that I will lose my two possible Blancpain GT titles."