Caterham’s reserve driver, Giedo van der Garde, is set to receive his fourth practice outing for the team at this weekend’s Indian Grand Prix, once again during the opening practice session of the weekend on Friday morning. The Dutchman will replace Heikki Kovalainen, who will naturally return to driving duties later in the afternoon.
After enjoying a rather successful year in GP2 throughout the 2012 season, Giedo van der Garde has since returned to his reserve driver duties at Caterham alongside regular drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov. Like many reserve drivers on the grid, van der Garde has recently begun partaking in the opening practice session of the weekend alongside the likes of Dani Clos for HRT and Valtteri Bottas for Williams.
The 27-year-old Dutchman has partaken in the last two Friday practice sessions for Caterham, with this weekend set to be his third consecutive outing with the team. Like with the Korea International Circuit last time out, the Buddh International Circuit is another new venue for the Dutchman who is quickly become accustomed to driving F1 machinery on a regular basis.
“With each session I’m doing I’m getting more comfortable with the car and the team and the feedback I’m getting from the engineers is good, so India’s another chance to build on that.” Explained Giedo van der Garde, ahead of his third consecutive outing with the team. “It’s another new track for me but one that looks cool on my simulator, and the other drivers have told me it’s better than quite a few of the stop / start type of tracks so I’m looking forward to getting back out on track.”
Giedo van der Garde has been linked to several teams on the grid for next season, including Caterham and HRT. After a superlative display of racing during GP2 this season, which saw the Dutchman win at both Spain and Singapore, he has made it clear he is more than capable of “graduating” up to the dizzy heights of Formula 1.
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