AirAsia GP2 Drivers to Test for Team Lotus in Barcelona

While most teams prefer to use the remaining 4 days of action in this year's testing programme to evaluate the entire potential of their cars and drivers, Team Lotus has chosen to give an opportunity to some of their testers to drive an F1 car in Barcelona, this week.

The last test of the off-season will kick off tomorrow morning, in Barcelona, and the first half day of running in what concerns Tony Fernandes team will belong to AirAsia GP2 drivers Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia. The duo will get to share cockpit time at the wheel of Team Lotus' 2011 challenger, the T128, before veteran Jarno Trulli will take over after lunch time.

Both Razia and Valsecchi have already enjoyed some F1 track time in recent months, having participated in the Abu Dhabi rookie test session for different teams last November. While Razia drove the Virgin VR-01, Valsecchi impressed the Hispania Racing F1 officials at the wheel of their 2010-spec single-seater.

As far as their new commitments go, should they impress the Team Lotus officials enough this week, one of them (or even both) could enjoy some track time with the Lotus T128 in selected friday practice sessions this season.

Apart from Team Lotus, Force India will also give their 2011-spec car to their test driver Nico Hulkenberg this week, as the German is due to drive the VJM04 tomorrow morning. As far as the info on all teams show so far, the other 10 squads will give their race drivers the opportunity to finalize their winter testing in Barcelona this week.

The only active driver on the 2011 roster to miss the Barcelona testing session is Timo Glock, who is recovering from his appendix surgery. Consequently, rookie driver Jerome D'Ambrosio will have the car to himself for the entire duration of the 4-day test.