Christian Vietoris will miss this weekend's GP2 Series season finale at Abu Dhabi after being taken ill. The 21-year-old German was taken to hospital on Thursday afternoon and diagnosed with appendicitis.
With his Racing Engineering team needing a replacement as such short notice, Ho-Pin Tung was called in to action. The Chinese driver was at Abu Dhabi in his role as Renault F1 Team reserve driver, and also comes from the same Gravity Sports Management stable as Vietoris, making him the obvious candidate to replace the German.
Tung started the season racing for DAMS but was himself ruled out of action when he fractured a vertebra in an accident at the Hungaroring round in August. His replacement Romain Grosjean has remained in his seat despite Tung's return to fitness.
Racing Engineering's main focus for the weekend will be on the other driver in the team, Dani Clos, who has a chance of taking second in the final standings.
A press release issued by the team's press office read: “Christian is very much missed this weekend by his Racing Engineering crew, who wishes him a speedy recovery.”
