At least four up-and-coming British drivers will be in action at the three-day GP2 main test in Jerez next weekend, where most of the series’ teams will evaluate possible recruits for the winter GP2 Asia series and next year’s main championship.
Sam Bird, Oliver Turvey and Jon Lancaster will join the GP2 Asia-bound Max Chilton at the sessions, the first two returning with the teams they tested for last Autumn at the corresponding event at the Paul Ricard test track.
But James Jakes, who tested last year and went on to score a podium in the GP2 Asia championship for Super Nova, is not currently linked with any of the teams.
Bird, one of the front-runners in F3 Euroseries, and World Series by Renault race-winner Lancaster are both scheduled to run for French squad DAMS. Bird will do two days, while Lancaster will join Stefano Coletti, Christian Vietoris and Alexander Rossi in driving for one.
Turvey, who also has a WSR victory under his belt this year, returns to iSport International – where he will have to impress its former drivers Bruno Senna if he wants to advance into a race seat.
Senna, who says he expects to be in F1 next year, will take part in the test to re-familiarise himself with single-seater cars after a season away, and to help the team judge which of Turvey, Marcus Ericsson and Jerome d’Ambrosio is performing best.
He said: “iSport will sign new drivers for 2010 and I will help them by providing a benchmark while working on the setup and performance of the car. I got a call from team owner Paul Jackson and could not resist giving them a helping hand as we built a very good relationship during our days together.”
Chilton, the top home driver in British F3 International this year, will run for two days with the Addax team as a warm-up for his participation with them in the GP2 Asia series.
Other drivers expected to take part are rally star Sebastien Loeb with Dave Price Racing and Angolan paydriver Ricardo Teixeira with Super Nova. The champions of WSR and British F3, Bertrand Baguette and Daniel Riccardo, are not currently linked with any team.