David Price Racing
source: David Price Racing
DPR RETURNS TO REGULAR DRIVER LINE-UP FOR SPA
David Price Racing (DPR) returns to the regular driver line-up ofAndy Soucek and Christian Bakkerud for this weekend's GP2 Series event at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.
Bakkerud was forced to sit out the previous round in Monza last week with a recurrenceof an early season back problem and the team drafted in one of the team's 2006 racers,Olivier Pla, to partner with Soucek in his place.
Following further intensive physiotherapy and specialist treatment the young Danishdriver has been declared fit for the Spa round, the penultimate event of this year's GP2championship calendar and the final Formula One supporting event. He says of hisprospects in Belgium, "I've been working hard to get back to race fitness for thisweekend and the doctors have given me the all-clear, so I'm all set for a return to thedriving seat. With only two weekends left of this season, there's little time left to bringhome points, so I need to get back on the pace as quickly as possible."
"I raced here last season in British F3 in atrocious weather. I hope it's not going to be likethat this weekend! However I did have a good run at that event with strong qualifying anda seventh place finish. It's a very challenging track and it should be great to drive in theGP2 car, so hopefully I'll be able to put my experience to good use."
Soucek had mixed fortunes last week in Italy. He was running well in the feature race,improving to eighth place, until an off-course excursion ended with an accident and a 10place grid penalty. The DPR driver did not let this setback affect his determination, withthe 22 year old driver making an excellent start in the race day sprint, moving from 25thplace to eighth over the course of the race distance, his best finish of the season so far.
The Austro-Spanish driver has prior experience of the Spa circuit and hopes that this willhelp him make the vital step up to a points finish. "I love the Spa circuit," says Soucek."Last season in the World Series by Renault races I had two podiums with a pair of thirdplaces, so maybe this can be the place where my track knowledge helps me to qualifywell and reach our goal of a points finish."
David Price, Team Principal, David Price Racing, adds, "It's good to see that Christianhas recovered and can be racing with us this weekend. With both drivers having racedhere last season, we should be getting on the pace quickly and I hope that we can bequalifying well. It's a tough track with strong competition, so it's not going to be easy tograb the points we need, but we'll be giving it our best shot."
The Spa-Francorchamps race weekend is tenth of the eleven round 2007 GP2 Series,with the final event being held at Valencia at the end of this month.