GP2 Series

Venezuelan-Backed Lazarus Team Join GP2

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Venezuela GP Lazarus

The Venezuela GP Lazarus logo

The GP2 Series will have a new entrant this year – in the form of Venezuela GP Lazarus. The Italian-based team takes the place of category stalwarts Super Nova Racing, who were reported to have closed after hitting serious financial troubles.

Lazarus was founded in 2009 by Tancredi Pagiaro, and have competed in Auto GP where they finished fifth and sixth in the drivers' standings last year with Fabio Onidi and Fabrizio Crestani. The team have been granted an entry for the 2012 and 2013 GP2 seasons.

“We are pleased to welcome Venezuela GP Lazarus to GP2 Series,” said GP2 CEO Bruno Michel. “They are a great addition to our competitive field of thirteen teams. Tancredi Pagiaro and most of his staff have been involved in GP2 in the past years and I am sure they will be able to be on pace very quickly.” 

The team will run their GP2/11 cars for the first time at the opening pre-season test at Jerez on February 28-29 and March 1.

“We are very excited to be part of GP2 and I would like to thank the organisers for giving us this entry,” said Pagiaro, who was previously involved in GP2 through his previous team GP Racing, which contested the series in partnership with Piquet Sports – the team now known as Rapax.

This Series is the most prestigious and competitive category after F1. I am proud that we have reached such an important agreement with the Venezuelan sponsors. With their help, we have been able to enter the prestigious GP2 Series. We know this will be a big challenge but we are ready for it and cannot wait to get started.”

The Venezuelan sponsorship suggests that the team's driver lineup will consist of at least one driver from the nation – making Rodolfo Gonzalez a likely candidate.

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Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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