Van der Garde began his Caterham duties at Jerez two weeks ago - Photo Credit: Daniel Kalisz/LAT Photographic
Giedo van der Garde's relationship with Caterham has been extended to include the Dutchman racing for their GP2 Series squad this season, it has today been revealed.
Van der Garde recently joined the F1 outfit as reserve driver, and has now announced that he will combine this role with racing for the sister GP2 team.
It will be van der Garde's fourth year in the feeder category, since winning the Formula Renault 3.5 title in 2008. In 2009 he took three races wins on his way to seventh in the final standings driving for iSport. He then spent the next two years with Addax, finishing seventh and fifth in the standings but with no race wins in either campaign.
“The combination of Testing and Developing with the Caterham F1 Team and racing GP2 with the same team is ideal for me,” he said.
“This means that I will go to all the Formula One races, and racing a full GP2 season too which keeps me sharp. Now we must make sure we are well prepared for testing and consistently score points throughout the season. I am very happy to gain F1 experience and race GP2 with Caterham Racing Team at the same time. I want to race and look forward to a full agenda.”
Caterham raced in GP2 for the first time in 2011 (initially under the AirAsia banner), winning their first race at Monaco with Davide Valsecchi.
The team is expected to formally announce the signing of van der Garde and the identity of his teammate on Monday, ahead of GP2 pre-season testing commencing at Jerez on Tuesday. Van der Garde tested the Caterham F1 car at the same circuit two weeks ago.
