Caterham Team AirAsia to test four drivers at Jerez GP2 Test.

Caterham Team AirAsia have today confirmed the identity of the four drivers they will test at the forthcoming two day GP2 test at Jerez, which gets underway tomorrow, 28 September.

The first day will see GP3 graduate Antonio Felix da Costa and former Formula 1 rookie Yelmer Buurman in the two cars, Buurman in the #26 car while Felix da Costa will use the car which Davide Valsecchi took to Monaco glory.

Felix da Costa is looking forward to testing the latest generation GP2 car with the team: “I am very excited to be testing with Caterham Team AirAsia. They achieved some really solid results in their debut season and have a strong connection with Formula One through Team Lotus. It will be the first time I drive the new generation GP2 car but I am confident and will work hard to make the most of this great opportunity.”

Buurman is looking forward to trying out a GP2 car as he still has ambitions of reaching Formula 1: “I am very eager to drive in the GP2 Series car again and I am grateful to Caterham Team AirAsia for providing me with this chance.  My objective is to perform in a consistent and productive manner and show I am quick enough to achieve the maximum results for me and the team.  The GP2 Series remains the best route to Formula One and it would be an excellent opportunity for me to continue to race in the series by achieve the goals I have set myself.”

Day two will see American racer Alexander Rossi and Team Lotus test driver Ricardo Teixeira take over the driving duties.

Teixeira is looking forward to getting behind the wheel of a GP2 car once again and with Caterham Team AirAsia, as he has been working with Team Lotus all season: “It will be great to get back into a GP2 car, particularly with my friends in Caterham Team AirAsia. We have been working together with Team Lotus since the beginning of the year, so it already feels like a big family! I will go out there and give 100% so we can learn as much as possible from the test, as well as enjoying it. I am really looking forward to it and hopefully I can make the most of this fantastic opportunity and continue the association with the team. ”

Rossi is keen to repay the faith put in him by everyone connected with the team during his day in the car: “I would like to thank Tony, Kamarudin, SM Nasarudin and Riad Asmat for giving me this opportunity with Caterham Team AirAsia. I am very excited about working with a team who I have seen progress throughout the 2011 GP2 season from literally nothing to a race winning squad who mirror the professionalism, passion and commitment their colleagues in Team Lotus bring to work every day, and I will do my best to absorb as much as I can and repay the faith the Team Lotus shareholders have show in me by doing the best job I possible can over the four days on track.”

“Caterham Team AirAsia has come a very long way in its very short life but today’s announcement is exactly what we are here to do,” added Team Principal Riad Asmat. “We want to reward young talent with the chance to develop their skills and the drivers we have taking part in this test are all here on merit. We will make them work – they will be put under the same pressure our race drivers are, and that is the best way for them to learn, so we give them the chance to shine, and I am sure they will repay our faith in them by performing to the best of their abilities.”

Team Manager Phill Spencer added:  “We are really looking forward to giving all four drivers a decent run in the cars. We have a very busy programme lined up for them at the test in Jerez and we will be pushing them hard to see how they respond, in and out of the cars. All four of the drivers testing with us this week have shown great potential and it will be good to see not only how they perform, but also how they can help us set ourselves up for the Abu Dhabi race, and for next year.”

Auto GP provides five drivers for Jerez GP2 Test.

Auto GP will be represented by five drivers when the first GP2 test gets underway at Jerez in Spain tomorrow. After the announcement that Kevin Ceccon would test for Scuderia Coloni as his prize for winning the under 21 Championship title, it has been confirmed that four other drivers will be at Jerez who race in Auto GP.

Also testing for Scuderia Coloni is GP2 vice Champion Luca Filippi and Fabio Onidi while joining Drivers’ Champion team DAMS are Rio Haryanto and Giovanni Venturini.

Filippi will head into the test looking to continue the form which he and the team showed over the second half of the season, where they secured three wins en route to finishing second overall.

He will head into the Auto GP finale at Mugello over the 1^st/2^nd October looking to make up the 15 point gap to those ahead of him and he can’t be ruled out of contention yet.

Joining Filippi at Scuderia Coloni is second year Auto GP driver Onidi – who had secured a victory and five other podium finishes and this test will be the perfect opportunity for the 2008 Euroseries Formula 3000 vice Champion to demonstrate his talents in the best feeder series for Formula One.

Venturini made an immediate impact on Auto GP, when on his series debut at Monza he secured Pole Position and then the victory during the opening race. He has backed up his Monza results with another victory at Oschersleben and a podium finish at Hungaroring. He will drive the car which took Romain Grosjean to title glory for DAMS.

The fourth Auto GP driver involved with the GP2 test at Jerez is double GP3 race winner, Indonesian Rio Haryanto. Haryanto has been involved with the Auto GP Championship since the start of the season and he secured his maiden Auto GP Victory for DAMS at Valencia, and they have decided to test him in their GP2 car.

“I’m really happy to see that some of the best drivers in Auto GP are progressing quickly towards GP2,” explains Enzo Coloni. “I’m also happy to see that they will all get the chance to work with two outfits that actually are the performance benchmarks of the series. This means that the high competitivity of the Auto GP field is appreciated at the highest levels of motorsport, and confirms that racing in Auto GP can open some very interesting opportunities for young talents.”

Rossi set for GP2 Test Outings.

Team Lotus has today confirmed that American youngster Alexander Rossi will test for Caterham Team AirAsia, Team Lotus GP2 Counterparts.

Rossi has been one of the standout drivers in the 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 and he is the lead driver for the AirAsia Team Lotus Driver Development Programme. He will drive for one of the two days in Jerez before spending two days in the car at Barcelona.

Riad Asmat explains why Rossi has the chance to test for Caterham Team AirAsia: “One of the key objectives for Tony, Din and Nasa when they set up Caterham Team AirAsia was to provide young talent from across the motorsport spectrum the chance to develop and gain experience on their way to competing at the highest levels of global motorsport. Whether it is aviation, music, the automotive industry or Formula One, our shareholders have always passionately believed in giving young people the chance to explore their potential and Alexander is a very good example of how this plan is working in motorsport – he has performed brilliantly in the 2011 World Series by Renault so it is only fitting that we help him further his understanding of how it works at the very top, and we can do that now by giving him the chance to step up to the GP2 series with us at the forthcoming tests.”

Rossi is a key driver in the Anglo/Malaysian’s squad of up and coming Motorsport talent and he spent the recent Singapore Grand Prix out with the team, expanding his knowledge of how a Formula One team works.

Currently, Rossi is the only American racer to hold a Super Licence and after returning from Singapore in time for the two day GP2 test, he said: “I would like to thank Tony, Kamarudin, SM Nasarudin and Riad Asmat for giving me this opportunity with Caterham Team AirAsia. I am very excited about working with a team who I have seen progress throughout the 2011 GP2 season from literally nothing to a race winning squad who mirror the professionalism, passion and commitment their colleagues in Team Lotus bring to work every day, and I will do my best to absorb as much as I can and repay the faith the Team Lotus shareholders have shown in me by doing the best job I possibly can over the four days on track.”

Former BTCC Driver Watts Joins Ginetta GT Supercup Grid at Brands Hatch.

Patrick Watts, the former British Touring Car Championship driver will return to the TOCA Package this weekend as he joins Total Control Racing for the penultimate weekend of the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup, which takes place at Brands Hatch this weekend, 1^st/2^nd October.

Watts will be in the car which Tim Harvey took to victory at Croft back in June and which was raced by Marino Franchitti at Knockhill – Watts will get his first experience of the Ginetta G55 during the pre event testing this coming Friday, 30September.

This weekend will mark the first occasion for ten years which Watts will have competed in a race on slick tyres – the fifty four year old from Kent is looking forward to his first experience of the 370bhp, V6 engineered Ginetta alongside Carl Breeze in the Wednesbury squad’s cars.

Since he last raced in the BTCC, for the Esso Ultron Team Peugeot works outfit, Watts has turned his attentions to historic racing – so his return to the TOCA package will be welcomed and he will be a welcome addition to the Ginetta GT Supercup grid.

“It’s a great opportunity given to me by TCR and Ginetta but having not raced anything with slicks on for 10 years, I’m looking forward to driving the 2011 Ginetta G55 – which could be different to my 1950 Allard J2!”, said Watts.

“I hope to be in the top 10 but I’m sure there are some good drivers out there. To be honest, I’ve no idea what the cars look like and I’ve never seen one of the races but I will ‘You Tube’ Ginetta before the weekend!”

Watts arrival at TCR for the Brands Hatch weekend sees him reunited with TCR Team Principal Lee Brookes. The pair raced to the Independents Championship crown in 1996 with a Toyota Carina before switching to the former works Peugeot 406 the following season.

“We’re absolutely delighted to welcome Patrick to the team and although the Ginetta will be something completely different for him to get used to, we’re sure he’ll get up to speed quickly. It’s been a long time since he was on the BTCC package so it’ll be great to see him out there again, we’re really looking forward to working with him,” added Brookes.

Heading to Brands Hatch, Breeze will be hoping for a trio of strong results to consolidate his Championship charge heading to Silverstone over the 15/16 October. As it stands, Breeze heads to Kent with four race wins and ten other podium finishes and he lays second overall.

As well as the trio of Ginetta GT Supercup races, TCR’s AirAsia Clio Cup UK team also take to the track at Brands Hatch, in their final two races of the season. James Dixon sits second in the Championship and he will strive to secure the title for the team at his home circuit – TCR last won the Clio Cup crown in 2006.

Scuderia Coloni Confirm Line Up for Jerez test.

Scuderia Coloni has confirmed their line up for the forthcoming two day test at Jerez, starting tomorrow – just ten days after the GP2 Series concluded its 2011 campaign at Monza.

Joining the team in Spain is GP2 vice Champion Luca Filippi, who secured three wins for the team in 2011, including a victory on his first appearance with the team at Nurburgring.

Also joining the team for the two day test is Auto GP under 21 Champion Kevin Ceccon. The young Italian driver returns to the team having raced for the team earlier in the GP2 campaign before turning his focus to the Auto GP Championship.

The third driver the team will test is Fabio Onidi. He tested for the team in 2009 and for the last two seasons, has been competing in Auto GP. He has secured one victory and five other podium finishes during his time in Auto GP to date.

Paolo Coloni said about the driver announcement for Jerez: “After an amazing second half of 2011 we want to keep momentum and to start preparing the next season in the best possible way, doing a top-notch job right from this Jerez test sessions. With Ceccon, Filippi and Onidi we are again confirming that helping the best Italian drivers, giving them chances to shine and to grow further, is one of our priorities. Kevin, Luca and Fabio are among the most interesting talents of our motorsport scenario, and with them we know that we will be able to both evaluate our possibilities for 2012 and complete a fruitful development work on the car.”