Former F1 engineer Trevor Foster has joined United Autosports, further bolstering the team ahead of ambitious full season campaigns in both the FIA GT3 European Championship and British GT Championship.
During his F1 career Foster worked for Tyrell, Lotus, Jordan and BAR in spells that saw him work alongside champions Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, among many other drivers. Before entering the F1 paddock he ran teams in junior formulae.
Since 2003 Foster has worked for Zytek Engineering, and now joins United Autosports to engineer the Audi R8 LMS of Matthew Bell and Zak Brown in the FIA GT3 series.
“I am delighted to be joining [team co-owners] Richard [Dean] and Zak [Brown] at United Autosports.” Foster said. “The results the team achieved in its first year during 2010 were truly exceptional. They both have very clear goals regarding the future and I am very excited to be part of those plans. United Autosports already has a strong team of people and I aim to integrate my experience with them to enable the success story to continue.”
Meanwhile preparations for the year ahead continue. Last week John Bintcliffe and Jay Palmer logged their first testing miles in the Audi they will drive in the domestic series when they tested on the Silverstone National circuit.
“Despite a weather forecast suggesting snow, it turned out to be a bright, sunny if cold day in which we enjoyed a very successful test,” Dean explained. “It was a 'general' test day so traffic was not great but John and Jay completed around 80 trouble-free laps between them and as importantly, thoroughly enjoyed their first track experience of our Audi R8 LMS. Both of them loved the car, took to it straightaway and cannot wait until their runs next week.”
The teams pair of new recruits for 2011 will be joined by Bell and Michael Gausch at the series' test and media launch days at the Northamptonshire track next week.
