Dutchman steps up from reserve driver role
Wednesday 13 February 2013 11:16, UK
Giedo van der Garde has been announced as Caterham's second race driver for the 2013 Formula 1 season.
Van der Garde finished sixth overall in the feeder series last year and recorded two wins. However, his F1 career stretches as far back as 2007, when he was test and reserve driver for Super Aguri and also tested for Spyker. "Everyone in the team is delighted that we can finally confirm that Giedo will be racing for us in the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship," Abiteboul said. "He has been part of our family since early 2012 when he joined our GP2 team and was appointed as Reserve Driver for the F1 team. "He acquitted himself extremely well in both his GP2 season and his six FP1 sessions, progressively improving his outright pace, technical feedback and his relationship with his engineers and mechanics, giving us the clear justification for promoting him to F1." Van der Garde and Pic have been team-mates before, at the Barwa Addax GP2 team in 2011. "He and Charles have been team-mates before so he is an excellent choice to partner Charles in what is going to be another very interesting season, and we are all looking forward to seeing Giedo continue to progress as he takes on the ultimate challenge of F1," Abiteboul added. How the 2013 grid is shaping up