Pla joins strong line-up
French driver Olivier Pla, a protégé of former Formula 1 star Jean Alesi, has signed up to join Ryan Sharp in Dave Price Racing's new GP2 Series team in 2005
The 23-year-old steps up from a season with Trevor Carlin's World Series by Nissan team, in which he was a race winner at Estoril, having previously been a front-runner in the F3 Euroseries. He won the 2003 Korean F3 Grand Prix.
"I am really happy to work with a team like DPR," said Pla. "It's a good opportunity and I think it's the very best option for me. I am confident about the team, am sure we will be very strong and I'm really motivated to win a race."
DPR boss Dave Price believes that his team's single-seater return will be aided by his strong driver line-up: "I have spoken at length to Trevor Carlin [for whom Pla drove in the 2004 World Series by Nissan] about Olivier and he recommended him highly.
"I think it's important for us to have an international line up for this high profile series and I'm confident Olivier will build on his good results to date and flourish in our hands."
Pla joins an increasingly impressive entry list for the inaugural GP2 series that includes Nissan World Series champion Heikki Kovalainen, former Minardi F1 driver Gianmaria Bruni, as well as F3 stars Nico Rosberg, Nelson Piquet Jr and Nicolas Lapierre.
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