“This role offers me the opportunity to rejoin the Formula 1 environment and drive again, which is naturally where my longer-term ambitions lie,” said Klien soon after he was confirmed by team principal Colin Kolles.
“I was in Bahrain and China and had a close look at the car already. I have also met the team members and I know quite a number of them from my previous race seasons. I would like to thank Dr Colin Kolles for the interest he has shown in me at this stage. It is exciting and very motivating to be part of a new team structure in such a challenging sport.”
“I have been keeping a close eye on him since his first races in the ADAC series as I believe he has great potential. We look forward to having Christian alongside us in Barcelona later this week so he can spend some valuable familiarization time with the team. As a young team we are looking for drivers who can grow with us,” added the HRT F1 team principal Colin Kolles.
Klien has been searching for a Formula One seat since the end of last season, but lack of sponsorship made him unattractive for the majority of the small teams. However, thanks to his great experience in the series – driving for Jaguar and Red Bull, test driving for Honda and BMW – the Austrian driver was picked by Kolles to help his team further develop their F1 car (since the team has 2 rookie drivers in their lineup).
Klien is the second reserve driver to be signed by HRT F1 in the last month, as Kolles also picked former Super Aguri and Spyker racer Sakon Yamamoto for the same role a few weeks ago.
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