Tom Dillmann and Ricardo Teixeira to race for Rapax in 2012

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Published on 19 Mar 2012 09:50
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By: Rob Veenstra

The Rapax team is proud to announce the arrival of Tom Dillman and Ricardo Teixeria in their 2012 GP2 Series program. After the positive feedback gathered during the recent test at Barcelona, the team decided to go on and confirm both for the 2012 championship, which is about to start on the next 23rd of March at Sepang.

Dillman, a 22-year-old from France, will contest his maiden GP2 Series season, although he already showed to be greatly adaptable. While testing at Jerez and Barcelona, Tom persuaded the team to have a great chance of aiming at some top results despite his small GP2 experience. That said, he could only improve on that side too.

Teixeira, a 27-year-old from Angola, will be back in the championship after his 2009 experience. Last year, he served as a test-driver for Lotus in Formula 1 and became a famous name in the Angolan motorsports panorama. In the collective test held at Barcelona, the team appreciated his professional spirit and the commitment in carrying the scheduled work on. After having finalized their driver line-up, Rapax is ready to head towards Sepang. The Malaysian round, set to open the 2012 season, will be the first of the 12 events scheduled for the 2012 season.

Ricardo Teixeira: "I would like to say thank you to all the Team for the opportunity they gave me to test in Barcelona. Honestly I liked very much the way they made me feel at home. The Team is extremely professional and i think i can learn a lot during this year with them and I'm sure together we can achieve good things. It's amazing feeling to come back to racing after a big stop specially with the opportunity to drive a nice car like this and make part of such good team and a great atmosphere. I hope I can keep making my country proud and represent Angola worldwide."

Tom Dillmann: "I'm delighted to sign in GP2. It hasn't been easy but I never gave up and step by step went my way up here. We have a good connection together with the team since our first test and I'm really looking forward to start the season. It will be my first year with "big cars" but i don't want to see it as a 2 or 3 years plan, my goal is to be competitive from the beginning, I know how tough it is to just have the chance to race in GP2."

Gianfranco Sovernigo, Owners Representative: We're proud to have with us two extremely valuable drivers. Dillman impressed us a lot in preseason testing as he showed to be a motivated and professional guy, with all the speed skills needed to leave his mark in 2012. We also liked he great commitment of Teixeira in climbing his learning curve even further and we will contribute in reaching the goals he set. For team Rapax, the deal reached with Ricardo is also a great opportunity to do our part in developing a driver coming from Angola. Despite not having a long motor racing history behind, the Country has been expressing a lot of passion in the recent years."

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