An early Christmas present for Daniel Abt: Just a few days before Christmas Eve, the 20-year-old racer from Kempten signed the agreement for the 2013 season in the prestigious GP2 Series, which is regarded as the top-level junior category below Formula 1. Abt: “I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am.”
On making his upward move, the 2012 runner-up in the GP3 Championship will be staying with Team Lotus GP. “Together, we’ve won second place in the GP3 Series and I think this is the right time to take the next career step,” says Daniel Abt. “Obviously, the GP2 Series is a different category and a big challenge. But I’m sure that we’ve got a package we can achieve quite a bit with. I want to thank my team and my partners for making this great opportunity possible for me.”
Team Lotus GP headed by Frédéric Vasseur has been on the GP2 Series grid since 2005 and has already clinched several team and drivers’ titles, with today’s Formula 1 stars Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, among others. Vasseur certainly believes that his new protégé is capable of following in the footsteps of his renowned predecessors. “Daniel is the driver who has shown the greatest improvement in the course of the past GP3 season. He has demonstrated his abilities and missed the title by just two points,” says Vasseur. “He is very strong mentally, has a lot of talent and is a quick learner – all of these are factors that motivated Lotus GP to support him in moving up.”
The race car that has been used in the series since 2011 is the Dallara GP2/11. Its 612-hp aspirated V8 engine accelerates the race car in 2.9 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h and to a top speed of around 330 km/h. At each event, a main race with pit stop plus a sprint race are held. Daniel Abt did initial track tests as early at the end of November and managed to set good times on so called long runs. Further tests will follow up until the season opener next spring.
