Burti to be released from hospital

St Quentin en Yvelines, September 10th 2001 - The doctors have officially confirmed that Luciano Burti is able to be released from the Universtity Hospital in Liège and the Prost Acer team is extremely pleased to announce that Luciano will be back home today in his Monaco residence.

However Luciano, together with his family and the doctors, has informed the Prost Acer team that he decided not to take part in the Italian Grand Prix which will take place at the Monza track on Sunday, Sept 16th.

Luciano Burti :
"One of the first things I did after I left the hospital was to talk to my family and friends and tell them that I am not ready to be back to racing yet. But I will be the only person who knows when I should be back in a Formula One car. My family and friends understood and respected my decision, and I realised after this accident how important it was for me to be able to make this very personal decision and to share it with the people I love. If I am happy, I'll be back racing and if I have a competitive car, I'll show the world what Luciano Burti is made of."

The Prost Acer team wishes once again the best to Luciano and hope their official driver will soon be able to join them again. They perfectly understand Luciano's decision and support him totally in his choice. Therefore, all necessary arrangements have been made to find a replacement for Luciano at the Monza race and the Prost Acer Team is happy to announce that they chose 25 year-old Czech driverTomas Enge to race alongside Heinz-Harald Frentzen for the Italian Grand Prix.

Alain Prost - Prost Grand Prix President : !" It is very important for us to know that Luciano is now definitely feeling well, and personally, I can only approve his decision to wait a little bit more before coming back in the car. I hope to welcome him back in the very near future, even if at the moment we still do not know how long it is going to be. Despite the sad circumstances, we can call ourself very lucky as Luciano is on the way to recover totally from his accident.

"As for the Italian Grand Prix, Tomas Enge will be driving for us in Monza. It is a fantastic opportunity to have Tomas racing with us. We have been watching him for a long time and he is one of the drivers we are thinking of for the future. Last week, as it had been planned for a long time, he tested with us at the Magny-Cours track and completed 120 laps without any problem. He showed how quick, reliable and professional he is, and I am sure he can do a very good job for our team at the Italian Grand Prix. "

Tomas Enge : " This is something I have been dreaming of for the last 6 or 7 years! Ten years ago, the situation in the Czech Republic kept us a million miles away from this level of motorracing. Today I am happy and proud to be the first Czech driver in Formula One. Everything came so quickly. After a good season in F3000, I had the chance to sign with the Prost Acer team to be their test driver for the remainder of the season and had a successful first test drive last week. I feel sorry that the opportunity to drive in Monza came about because Luciano suffered a terrible accident. I wish him all the best and hope he will soon be back where he belongs. I still can't express how great it is for me to drive this car. I will try my utmost to do a good job for the team and to reward the confidence Alain Prost puts in me today."

-Prost-