Atletico Madrid’s Maria De Villota is set to miss the entire Adria weekend after suffering a recurrence of a long standing neck injury.

Superleague Formula’s only female driver took part in the first free practice session but began to feel pain in her neck and numbness in her right shoulder and arm during the second and missed qualifying after consulting with the series’ doctor.

It now looks unlikely that De Villota will take part in any of Sunday’s three races, barring a miraculous recovery overnight, as experts have advised her to rest the injury in order to be fit for the next round at Portimao in two weeks time.

“It’s an old injury in the C5 disc in my neck which I’ve always been able to manage before,” Maria told Superleague Formula’s official website. “It has flared up again unfortunately and so I’m not able to drive.”