Positive COVID test forces Spa withdrawals
Coronavirus infections forced the withdrawal of one driver and a team from last Saturday’s Spa round of the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship. Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2 driver Gabriel Aubry and the Algarve Pro squad, for which he drove in the previous weekend’s European Le Mans Series event, were forced to pull out of the race after positive tests for the virus.
Aubry submitted himself for a test in Paris between the two Spa events after a friend with whom he had been in contact was diagnosed with
COVID-19. He only received the result after his arrival back in Belgium.
The Frenchman selfisolated to await results of a confirmatory test in Belgium, while the Algarve P2 squad also went into quarantine in their hotel. The second test for Aubry came back positive, as did those for three members of the Angloportuguese squad.
Aubry withdrew from the
Jota-run Chan/dc line-up and was replaced by ELMS regular Ryan Cullen in the team’s ORECA-GIBSON 07 (left) alongside Will Stevens and Ho-pin Tung. Three members of the Jota squad who had come into contact with Aubry but didn’t test positive also took no further part in the event.
A WEC statement explained that the procedures followed were “in accordance with the instructions given by relevant public health authorities and the WEC and Circuit de Spafrancorchamps’ COVID-19 medical delegate”.