Rickard Rydell will miss Moroccan race due to a virus

Swedish driver Rickard Rydell and the NIKA International team will miss out this weekend’s FIA World Touring Car Championship race in Morocco, after falling ill ahead of the championship’s second round.

Rydell has been suffering with a virus for the past week, which has worsened just ahead of the weekend, with the decision now just made to withdraw from the weekend, though the team’s car and personnel will be present at the track during the meeting, the car will not be raced.

“I am tremendously disappointed to be forced out of this weekend’s races in Marrakech,” said Rydell. “I’ve had a persisting fever for the last few days, but it was always manageable and I firmly intended to drive in Morocco. Unfortunately, however, things took a turn for the worse today and the fever increased. It’s very frustrating, but driving the car in this condition would have been highly dangerous and simply isn’t an option. I would like to thank the team for their support in all of this – they’ve really been fantastic. Now, I will liaise with my doctors in order to recover as quickly as possible, and I already look forward to getting back in the car again in Budapest in two weeks’ time.”

Team Principal Nicklas Karlsson added:
“We are obviously sad and disappointed not to make the grid in Marrakech this weekend, but health always comes first and the most important thing right now is Rickard’s recovery. We have waited to the last minute before making this call, hoping for an improvement, but ultimately the fever got worse and there is no way Rickard can drive the car in his current discomfort. Taking this decision is all the more painful on this particular weekend, when we’ve got a big group of partners on site in the paddock, but our VIP programme will still run according to its original plan and I am certain that all of our guests will fully understand this unfortunate situation.”