Juan Manuel Correa will not be racing this weekend in Imola for Round 2 of the Formula 3 2022 Championship. This means that ART Grand Prix will make the unprecedent move of running two cars instead of 3.
Correa participated in Bahrain’s season opener without many complications, a metatarsal fracture on his left foot put him in a serious amount of pain and led him to cut his running short at the Jerez test and also skip the Barcelona test.
Although Correa was replaced for the Barcelona test by stock car racing bound Matteo Nannini, who is also a winner in FIA F3 and a former F2 racer, the only ART GP cars on the grid will be Correa’s teammates.
Teams in Formula 2 and 3 are deterred from not racing all of their cars when a seat becomes vacant, with disincentives that put teams in a position where filling the car as a loss-making venture with a driver without the budget needed is fiscally less punishing than not running the car at all.
I’ve taken the difficult decision not to race in Imola. Very sad to not be there, but after assessments with my doctors, and with the profile of the injury, we feel the risk of making the injury worse is too high. I’ll be cheering ART GP on from home and I hope to be back soon.
Juan Manuel Correa took to social media to tell the news.
Victor Martins & Gregoire Saucy will be the only two ART GP drivers racing this weekend. We wish JM a quick recovery. See you soon on track.
The team also confirmed with the above.
Wishing you well JMC, hopefully not to long and we will see you back on track!
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