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 Maria
de Villota, the driver of Racing Engineering’s car number 3,
will not race at the Jerez meeting of the Spanish Formula 3 Championship
taking place on the 9th and 10th of October. Maria, who hasn’t
had the best of luck during the season so far, suffered physical
injuries during the second race of the Valencia meeting, which will
keep her from racing on Racing Engineering’s home track. The
name “de Villota” will nevertheless be displayed on the
timesheets in Jerez as Maria’s brother, Emilio, will be her
substitute.
In
a racing incident between Maria de Villota and Hector Suarez during
the second race of the last meeting of the Spanish Formula 3 Championship
taking place in Valencia, the Racing Engineering driver injured
her hand. What in the beginning seemed as not very serious turned
out to be broken ligaments in the thumb and a broken metacarpal
bone. These severe injuries required an operation, which was conducted
the week following the race. Maria will therefore not be able to
participate in the two Jerez races and is obviously not happy about
this situation. Much like the rest of the Racing Engineering team.
However, Maria will be present at the Jerez track – especially
to support her car, carrying the number 3.
Racing Engineering’s car number 3 will be driven by Maria’s
brother, Emilio de Villota, who is already experienced in the Spanish
Formula 3 Championship. Emilio raced in this championship in 2002
and 2003. For the 2004 season Emilio is participating in the Formula
BMW Baviera Championship, where he is opting for the title, looking
back at two wins, two podiums and two track records.
The Formula BMW Baviera has it’s final round in Jerez, so Emilio
will be busy switching between cars. The 22 years old Spaniard mentioned
before this weekend, “I would like to thank Maria, Mapfre,
HOLA! and Racing Engineering for giving me such an opportunity.
I am also competing in the Formula BMW Baviera this weekend, where
I am fighting for the championship title. I am indeed looking forward
to this weekend.”
“It’s
a very tough year for Maria and this was definitely the last thing
we all needed. But at the moment the most important thing is that
she recovers quickly so to race again in Barcelona,” Alfonso
de Orleans stated. “We are happy that she comes to Jerez anyway,
although we would have preferred to see her racing. She is a hard
worker and very ambitious, so it will be tough. We as a team have
to concentrate on Emilio now as it is his first race meeting with
Racing Engineering. We know he is a fast driver and I am convinced
he will represent well the name de Villota.”
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