Former Formula One racer Johnny Herbert is to join the Italian based Superstars series for the 2010 season, joining a host of other ex-F1 drivers.
Herbert, who spent part of the 2009 season racing a Honda Civic for Team Dynamics in the British Touring Car Championship will be competing in a much more powerful Chevrolet Lumina CR8 in the 500bhp Championship, a world apart from the 280bhp Honda Civic.
Alongside Herbert in the former F1 driver ranks are Gianni Morbidelli, Andrea Chiesa, Emanuele Naspetti and Mimmo Schiattarella. Morbidelli, the current Superstars Champion, and Naspetti also have WTCC experience, while former WTCC Drivers Luca Rangoni and Davide Rosa also feature on the grid.
Herbert has joined the Motorzone Race Car team, who joined the Superstars series in 2009 and took a maiden win at Kyalami in South Africa, through Fabrizio Armetta. Herbert, who contested over 160 Grand Prix during his F1 career, taking 3 victories is the biggest name to join the 2010 grid.
“I’m extremely happy to enter the 2010 Superstars International Series” Johnny said “I can’t wait to battle my old friends and rivals from Formula 1, Morbidelli, Naspetti, Chiesa, and the other great names coming in the next few weeks. Superstars has grown so much in the last few years and I’m sure this will be really competitive season too. Being part of the Motorzone Race Car team will be challenging, since it’s going to be tough to improve their great 2009 results, with Armetta scoring an excellent win at Kyalami. I’m sure we’ll put on a great show, with so many cars like Audi, Bmw, Mercedes, Porsche, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jaguar, Cadillac and Maserati. We’re set to have a great roster on March 28 at Monza, for the season’s debut”.
“The arrival of Johnny Herbert” said team manager and 2009 race winner Fabrizio Armetta “is a privilege and an honour for our team. It’s also a great motivation to take a further step and keep working the best possible way to suit and enable him to show his full potential. It’ll also be a test for us, as we’ll be called to confirm the quality we showed so far at an even higher level. Of course, our goal is also to profit from Herbert’s experience to help the team’s growth”.
