Pietro Fittipaldi is no longer part of the G-Drive Racing #25 in the European Le Mans Series 2021.
The Brazilian has to give up on the programme, which is run by Algarve Pro Racing, since he runs an NTT IndyCar Series programme with Dale Coyne Racing too, doing the oval races instead of Romain Grosjean.
Fittipaldi had to skip the team’s FIA World Endurance Championship race at Spa Francorchamps earlier this month, since he was in Texas for Indycar, plus he has a clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans in August.
So the team has chosen to replace him with Roberto Merhi, who was his replacement at Spa Francorchamps too. Merhi is an experienced driver in LMP2, having run with teams like Manor in the past.
The change is already happening this weekend, with ELMS running at the Red Bull Ring. Merhi will be sharing G-Drive Racing #25 with John Falb and Rui Andrade.
Photo: JJ Media
Pietro Fittipaldi has had somewhat of an on-off relationship to sportscar racing. He was called in as replacement at DragonSpeed, since Renger van der Zande was on duty in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2018, but Fittipaldi ended up with two broken legs, after a huge accident in the Eau Rouge/Raidillon section at Spa Francorchamps, which cost him a lot of his planned Indycar season. He returned to sportscars at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the ELMS a month ago, where he did the opening round for G-Drive Racing, but that part of his career has been put on pause again.
The next task for Pietro Fittipaldi will start on Tuesday, when the first official practice sessions for the Indianapolis 500 qualifying starts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
