Billy Monger will return to racing in November at the VdeV Endurance Proto Series finale in Estoril, and is aiming for the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2020.
The British driver lost both of his lower legs in an accident at Donington Park during a British Formula 4 race in April, and over £800,000 was raised to help his recovery in a crowdfunding campaign.
But just months after the crash, Monger has joined quadruple amputee and Le Mans racer Frederic Sausset’s latest project, a scheme aiming to put three disabled drivers on the Circuit de la Sarthe grid.
The plan is for Monger to be in the Le Mans driver line-up for 2020, and his first appearance as part of the La Filiere Frederic Sausset driver academy will be at the final VdeV round in Portugal on the 4/5 November.
Monger will share the Group CN Ligier-Honda HS53 Evo 2 with Sausset and Le Mans racer Christophe Tinseau. He’s been eager to return to racing and on the new project, Monger told Motorsport.com:
“It was unbelievable that Fred reached out to me after my accident and asked me to be involved in his plan to get disabled people involved in motorsport at the top level. I definitely want to be out racing again. My priority is to get track time in a car and continue my physical work to return to full fitness.”
Monger’s already been testing in the Carlin F3 simulator using hand controls, and has been adapting well to it.
He’s the first driver to be confirmed as part of the academy, with Sausset contacting Monger straight after his accident. The first driver selection process will begin this year.
Sausset is aiming to have an all-disabled driver line-up ready to race in the first part of 2018, probably in GT3, before building it up to a Le Mans entry in 2020.
Last year’s Le Mans marked Sausset’s debut at the race, driving in the Garage 56 entry in a specially-adapted LMP2 Morgan.
