Del Monte could miss Mexico City race

UPDATE: Del Monte has not been cleared to drive and this rumor is upgraded to 'fact.' 11/04/05 Fabrizio del Monte might not race for the CTE-HVM team this weekend in Mexico City after crashing in an extra Thursday test session designed for rookies to get used to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez ahead of this weekend's Mexico City finale.

The Italian shared the track with Charles Zwolsman, but managed to crash his Lola-Cosworth in turn 13, sustaining heavy damage. The team had five Lolas. They gave one to Team Australia for their third car, leaving them with four. Del Monte wrote-off the 4th one yesterday leaving the team with three. Del Monte can race one of the remaining three cars, but do they risk then not having a backup car for local favorite Rodolfo Lavín. Given Del Monte's history, the likelihood of him crashing again is high.

Del Monte had been the fastest of the two drivers on track on Thursday, turning a 1 min 31.531secs lap.