New season of GP2 Asia Series beckons for DPR

David Price Racing (DPR) are back racing this weekend in the opening round of the second season of the GP2 Asia Series, which will take place at the state of the art Shanghai Circuit in China. Romanian born Michael Herck, will partner Japanese driver Yuhi Sekiguchi, who impressed the team during pre season testing at the Shanghai Circuit last week.

The Shanghai International Circuit is one of the most impressive circuits in the world, built in 2004 and it is also one of the newest. The Circuit was built in just less than 18 months, work started in April 2003 and by September 2004 the track was hosting the first Chinese Grand Prix. The 5.3 km2 site was effectively marsh land, which means that the buildings and race tracks had to be floated on polystyrene.

This makes the suspended media centre and restaurant, which form two bridges over the track, even more impressive. During pre season testing at the 5.451km state of the art Shanghai track last week, Herck, who drove for DPR during the GP2 summer season set the 14th fastest time, after a day filled with red flags and incidents. DPR gave Japanese driver Yuhi Sekiguchi his first taste of the GP2 machine during day one, and he coped well with the challenge.

Sekiguchi, who has been racing in the Esso Formula Toyota Series in Japan and the Formula Master series, set the 15th fastest time during the first day of testing, quicker than ex-Formula One Malaysian driver Alex Yoong, who was also participating in the test session. The second and final day of testing saw Ma Qing Hua join Herck on track.

The Chinese driver who has been successfully racing in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship finished the day in 23rd place after completing a total of 43 laps. Herck who was working on car setup during the test finished the day 19th fastest after only limited running in the morning session due to an engine change which halted his progress.

Team Principal David Price commented ahead of the race, "The test was very productive for us, two days of gathering data at the circuit which we are to race on next weekend is always going to be useful. We were impressed with Yuhi Sekiguchi during the test; he showed natural speed and got to grips with the GP2 car pretty quickly.

"Michael will continue to gain top level racing by competing in the GP2 Asia Series for his second season, although his first with DPR. He is now accustomed to the slightly more powerful new GP2 car which he has been running in all season, so hopefully this will be a good learning experience for him. We’re hoping that we can have a good season as we did last year when we scored our first podium in the GP2 Asia Series."

The opening round of the GP2 Asia Series takes place on October 18 – 19 at the Shanghai Circuit in China.

The 2008-09 GP2 Asia Series season will be the second season of the GP2 Asia Series, completing twelve races in six events and ending on April 19 2009, supporting three Formula One Grand Prix events along the way.

www.davidpriceracing.com  

- Alison Hill -