Emanuele Pirro has failed in his bid to be fit for this weekend's American Le Mans Series finale at Laguna Seca, following his practice crash at the Petit Le Mans round.
Despite expressing his intention to be present to help Audi celebrate its various LMP1 triumphs at the Californian circuit, Pirro has been declared insufficiently fit to rejoin Marco Werner. He will be replaced by Mike Rockenfeller, who rejoins the Audi squad for the first time since Le Mans in June.
"Emanuele is suffering from whiplash," Audi's Dr Wolfgang Ullrich explained, "Our doctors have stated that allowing him to race only two weeks after such an accident would represent a significant risk to his health, which would also be unnecessary as the championship has already been decided."
Rockenfeller admits that he is eager to get back behind the wheel of the R10 TDI, if only to make up for his early exit in the 24 Hours.
"I'm really looking forward to making the most of this new opportunity following the somewhat unlucky retirement at Le Mans," the 23-year old said, "I aim to be as good a stand-in for Emanuele as Lucas [Luhr] was at Road Atlanta"
