MP Motorsport will race with an all new line-up in Monza for the eighth round of the GP2 series. It had been confirmed that René Binder will stand in for the injured Daniël De Jong whilst Meindert van Buuren is set to make his GP2 debut.
During the previous round at the historic Spa-Francorchamps, Daniël De Jong suffered a high-speed accident which saw the Dutchman be taken to hospital where it was discovered he had sustained a broken vertebrae. Whilst De Jong recovers and works closely with Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli of Formula Medicine, 23-year-old experienced GP2 racer Binder will take his place in the MP Motorsport car.
“First of all, I am very happy that we found a friendly agreement with my former team, Trident, that allows me to take this new challenge with MP Motorsport,” said Austrian driver, Binder. “The cards are reshuffled now but I am quite confident. After missing Spa due to an infection, I can’t wait to get back in a GP2 car on the high speed circuit of Monza. It is the perfect place to start from scratch.”
Binder, who has raced in GP2 since 2012, has had many top ten finishes in his career, including a best place finish of sixth at Monaco back in 2013.
Racing alongside the Austrian will be Dutchman van Buuren who will make his series debut. The 20-year-old, who has competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 for the last few years, has ties with the MP Motorsport team after he competed for them in the AutoGP championship back in 2013 securing ninth position in the championship that year. He also raced in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC with the Dutch team.
“I’m very happy to be making my GP2 debut with MP Motorsport at Monza, although I would have liked it to have happened under different circumstances with Daniël out injured – I wish him a speedy recovery,” said van Buuren. “It feels like coming home after having driven for MP in Formula Renault 2.0 and Auto GP and I want to thank the team for offering me this opportunity. With practice being so limited in GP2, I don’t expect to be a frontrunner all at once, but MP has a great car and I’ve always gone well at Monza. I’m very much looking forward to it.” Team Principal Sander Dorsman added: “…It’s been a tough couple of weeks for everyone in the team after Daniël’s accident at Spa, but he’s doing really well and recovering nicely.
We’re very pleased to welcome both René and Meindert to the GP2 team, it’s going to be interesting working with René for the first time and also giving Meindert his GP2 debut – we’re very much looking forward to it.”
