Leading GP2 Series team MP Motorsport will field an all-new driver line-up for this weekend’s event at Monza in Italy it is confirmed today, with René Binder standing in for the injured Daniël De Jong and Meindert van Buuren set to make his category debut in the squad’s sister car.
Following the dramatic high-speed accident he was involved in at Spa-Francorchamps a fortnight ago, through which he sustained a broken vertebrae, De Jong is currently recuperating at Formula Medicine in Italy with Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli and so his place this weekend will be filled by experienced GP2 racer Binder.
After debuting in GP2 at the tail end of the 2012 season, Austrian driver Binder has been a regular in the FIA Formula One World Championship support series with several top 10 finishes along the way, including a best of sixth place at Monaco in 2013.
“First of all, I am very happy that we found a friendly agreement with my former team, Trident, that allows me to take this new challenge with MP Motorsport”, said the 23-year-old, “The cards are reshuffled now but I am quite confident. After missing Spa due to an infection, I can't wait to get back in a GP2 car on the high speed circuit of Monza. It is the perfect place to start from scratch.”
Joining Binder for rounds 15 and 16 of the GP2 season, Dutch 20-year-old van Buuren will make his debut in the ultra-competitive category at the wheel of the MP Motorsport car which was piloted during the previous event at Spa, and taken to a pair of points finishes at Silverstone, by British racer Oliver Rowland.
Van Buuren, who has been competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for the past couple of years, already has strong connections to Westmaas-based MP Motorsport having raced to ninth position in the 2013 AutoGP championship with the team. He also competed in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) with the squad.
“I'm very happy to be making my GP2 debut with MP Motorsport at Monza, although I would have liked it to have happened under different circumstances with Daniël out injured – I wish him a speedy recovery”, said van Buuren.
“It feels like coming home after having driven for MP in Formula Renault 2.0 and Auto GP and I want to thank the team for offering me this opportunity. With practice being so limited in GP2, I don't expect to be a frontrunner all at once, but MP has a great car and I've always gone well at Monza. I'm very much looking forward to it.”
Team principal Sander Dorsman added: “It’s been a tough couple of weeks for everyone in the team after Daniël’s accident at Spa, but he’s doing really well and recovering nicely. We’re very pleased to welcome both René and Meindert to the GP2 team, it’s going to be interesting working with René for the first time and also giving Meindert his GP2 debut – we’re very much looking forward to it.”
