Toyota Gazoo Racing has announced that José María López, driver of the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid will not race in this Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa, the second round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship.
López has been not cleared to race by FIA Medical Delegate Dr Jacques Tropenat and the team’s own doctor due to minor damage to two vertebrae, suffered during his accident at Silverstone last month during the season opener, when he had an off at Copse.
The team hopes that extra recovery time will ensure he can compete at Le Mans in June. He will participate in a test session towards the end of the month prior to the official Le Mans Test Day on June 4th. This leaves Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi to compete as a duo in the #7 for this weekend’s race.
“I’m extremely disappointed to miss this weekend’s race as I was really looking forward to driving the TS050 HYBRID at Spa,” said López. “I feel basically fine but we all agree that we should take no chances; the priority is to be absolutely fit for Le Mans.
“Probably I could race if we were at a different track but a driver’s body experiences extreme forces through Eau Rouge so, after discussions with the FIA Medical Delegate and our team doctor, we decided I should not drive this weekend.”
