Daniël De Jong will make a very welcome return to competitive action during the penultimate GP2 Series event of the season in Bahrain this weekend, having fully recovered from injuries sustained in an accident at Spa-Francorchamps in August.
Following contact from a rival at high-speed in round 13 at the Belgian track, the Dutchman’s car was propelled into the barriers and the heavy impact resulted in broken vertebrae. After initial treatment by the excellent FIA medical team at Spa, the 23-year-old has since been recuperating under the first class care of Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli at Formula Medicine in Italy.
De Jong’s swift recovery from injury and return to action inside three months has taken plenty by surprise, not least his MP Motorsport team which already has deals in place for the weekend’s racing at Bahrain International Circuit with René Binder and Nicholas Latifi. The Dutchman will, therefore, be placed with Italian squad Trident Racing for rounds 19 and 20 at the Sakhir circuit.
“I really want to say a big thank you to all of the FIA medical staff, the marshals trackside and all of those at Spa who helped to look after me so well after such a huge accident”, said De Jong, “Of course, I’d like to say a very special thank you to Dr. Ceccarelli and his team at Formula Medicine as they have helped me recover and return to GP2 much quicker than we expected.
“I had so many messages of support during my recuperation from fellow competitors and colleagues, and the GP2 organisers have been fantastic throughout. I really appreciate all of the kind wishes I have received and I’m really looking forward to Bahrain and being back on track!”
On behalf of MP Motorsport, team principal Sander Dorsman added: “We are all so happy to see Daniël back to full fitness and delighted our colleagues at Trident have been able to offer one of their seats to him.
“None of us expected Daniël to make such a quick recovery, it surprised us all so much we had the deals with René and Nicholas already in place for next weekend. It’s certainly going to be a unique experience with Daniël out there competing against the two MP cars but great to see him back!”
Practice ahead of the Bahrain race weekend will take place this Thursday, 19th November, with qualifying following at 14.20 (local time) that afternoon. Race one will get underway at 15.30 (local time) on Friday, 20th November, with race two scheduled to commence at 10.45 (local time) on Saturday, 21st November.
