Kubica suffers multiple fractures in rally crash

ROME - Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica has suffered multiple fractures in a crash at a rally in Italy Sunday just several weeks before the start of the new Grand Prix season.

The 26-year-old Renault driver was airlifted to a hospital near Genoa and was undergoing surgery after he crashed his car into a church wall. His co-driver, Jacub Gerber, was unhurt.

A Lotus Renault GP team statement said: “After undergoing extensive medical checks Sunday morning, Robert Kubica has been diagnosed with multiple fractures to his right arm, leg and hand.

“He is currently undergoing surgery at the Santa Corona Hospital in Peitra Ligure.”

The Lotus Renault team said Kubica “suffered a high-speed accident” while competing in the Ronde di Andora rally.

Kubica, a keen rally driver, was at the wheel of a Skoda Fabia when he came off the road and struck the wall of a church at San Lorenzo near Genoa.

The Polish driver had preparing for the start of the Formula One season in Bahrain March 13 and last week had been testing the new Lotus Renault R31 car in Valencia, Spain.

He set the fastest time on the third and final day of testing in Valencia Thursday.

Kubica underwent surgery to his left arm in 2003 after crashing in a Formula 3 race.

He also suffered a bad crash at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007, but a year later claimed his first Formula 1 victory on the same track. He finished eighth in the driver’s championship last year.

Kubica was to be partnered again in 2011 by Russian Vitaly Petrov. Former HRT driver Bruno Senna of Brazil and Romain Grosjean of France are the team’s third drivers.