Stefano Coletti's GP2 Series season has been brought to an early end after he sustained an injury in a crash during the feature race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Monegasque driver was caught out when Mikhail Aleshin's engine, according to Autosport.com, went into safe mode while running behind the safety car in wet conditions, causing him to slow to a crawl. The same problem appeared to affect much of the field during the same safety car period.
Unable to see the slowing car in front of him due to the poor visibility, Coletti ran over the back of Aleshin's car, launching him into the air. Once the car had landed he was unable to get out alone and had to wait for medical assistance to be extracted from the cockpit. He was taken to hospital in Liege, where it was determined that he sustained two vertebral compression fractures.
The injury will force the Trident Racing driver to miss the sprint race at Spa as well as the season finale at Monza in a fortnight's time.
This is not the first time that Coletti has been unfortunate enough to be injured in an accident at the Belgian circuit. He sustained similar back injuries in a high-speed off at Eau Rouge in GP2 in 2009, which also resulted in him missing the remainder of the season.
Coletti had scored his third win in GP2 this year in the sprint race at the previous race weekend at the Hungaroring. Previous victories came at the main series opener in Turkey as well in the Asia Series round at Abu Dhabi.
