The inclusion of Vittorio Ghirelli (above) and Daniel De Jong are the main talking points of the test lineup - Photo Credit: Drew Gibson/GP3 Media Service
The complete driver lineup for this week's first GP2 Series pre-season test at Jerez has been revealed by Italian media.
21 of the 26 drivers have already been confirmed by their teams for the coming season, following today's announcements from Caterham and Arden.
Racing Engineering this morning confirmed that Nathanael Berthon would be testing for them this week, alongside Fabio Leimer. Berthon had already raced with the Spanish team in the Asia Series and Abu Dhabi Final last year.
Rapax are yet to announce either of their drivers for 2012, but according to ItaliaRacing.net will run with Dani Clos and Daniel De Jong this week. Clos, recently announced as reserve driver at HRT, raced for Rapax at the Abu Dhabi race at the end of last year. Dutchman De Jong contested a dual programme of Formula Renault 3.5 and Auto GP last year, having stepped up from Formula Renault 2.0.
New team Venezuela GP Lazarus will defy their name with an all-Italian driver lineup this week, with ItaliaRacing.net reporting that confirmed race driver Fabrizio Crestani will be joined by compatriot Vittorio Ghirelli. 17-year-old Ghirelli has raced in GP3 for the past two years without scoring a single point, though has since been testing the team's Auto GP car.
Tom Dillmann will be present with Ocean Racing Technology – the French GP3 graduate having been mightily impressive on his GP2 debut in Abu Dhabi with iSport.
Full lineup:
Addax: Johnny Cecotto / Josef Kral
Dams: Felipe Nasr / Davide Valsecchi
Racing Engineering: Fabio Leimer / Nathanael Berthon
iSport: Jolyon Palmer / Marcus Ericsson
Lotus: James Calado / Esteban Gutierrez
Caterham: Giedo van Der Garde / Rodolfo Gonzalez
Coloni: Stefano Coletti / Fabio Onidi
Trident: Julian Leal / Stephane Richelmi
Lazarus: Fabrizio Crestani / Vittorio Ghirelli
Rapax: Dani Clos / Daniel De Jong
Arden: Simon Trummer / Luiz Razia
Ocean: Nigel Melker / Tom Dillmann
Carlin: Max Chilton / Rio Haryanto
