Mexican driver, Sergio Pérez will team up alongside Giedo Van der Garde as official driver for the Barwa Addax Team and will compete in next season’s GP2 Series, thanks to the agreement reached between the Spanish team and Telmex.
Sergio Pérez, born on 26th January 1990, has already achieved great success in his short career, despite his tender age. In 2009 he drove his first full season in the GP2 Series, in which he finished twelfth overall. He demonstrated his true potential in several races but the highlights were the second and third places achieved in the Europa GP at the urban street circuit of Valencia and the fastest lap time set at the legendary circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. Previously he had made his GP2 debut in the 2008-2009 Asia Series with the Barwa Addax Team and his results were nothing short of spectacular, winning two races, finishing three times on the winner’s rostrum and setting a fastest race lap time. At this time he was the youngest driver in the field and the first rookie to win a race.
Sergio Pérez: “I´m grateful to both Telmex and the Barwa Addax Team for giving me the opportunity to compete this season with one of the teams that will give me every chance to fight for the big prizes in the GP2 Series. Addax, apart from being a great working atmosphere characteristic of the Latin temperament, it also has a great team of professionals who work tirelessly to find excellence and are technically the most competitive team that I have been able to work with.
This will be the most important season of my career because I really think that I will have options of fighting for the title at the end of the championship. I hope to get some good results this year, which will give me the experience necessary to move up towards the ultimate objective, a future in Formula 1. It´s the dream all drivers want to reach one day, so I´ll be putting every effort to get closer to this objective.”
Isidro Ambe (Commercial Director of Telmex): “We are delighted to join forces with Barwa Addax Team because it is one of the teams competing for the main objectives in the GP2 Series. We know them well since Sergio drove for them in the Asia Series 2008-2009 and we were very happy with the results achieved in what was his first participation in this class. Both Sergio and the team ended up more than satisfied with the way they worked together, each one giving their absolute best to achieve joint success at this level.
We leave Checo, our great prospect for the future, in good hands so that he can continue to make progress according to the kind of career that we have designed and programmed, as a step towards competing in the top flight. Both we and the Spanish team are agreed that he is now ready to take on the best at this level and compete for the GP2 title this season. If he fulfills expectations, he could be one of the drivers with possibilities for a place on the Formula 1 grid. This is our immediate objective. We hope that our sporting pyramide which represents Telmex, is crowned by a Mexican driver in the same starting grid as the best drivers in the world of motor-racing”.
Alejandro Agag (Team Principal and owner): “We are very satisfied after having reached an agreement with Telmex so that Sergio Pérez competes in the GP2 Series 2010 with the Barwa Addax Team. Sergio is already a driver of high repute in the GP2 Series after having performed well throughout the 2009 season.
It is a real pleasure for us to maintain the good harmony and collaboration with Telmex, because they have shown on a number of occasions in the past their support and concern for Mexican motor racing and are commited to discovering young talent, so that we can work hard together in developing this promise. My objective with this signing is to place a Mexican driver in Formula 1.
We are convinced in the following season that the joint venture between Telmex and Barwa Addax Team will bring its fruits in sporting terms, so we will do everything in our hands to ensure that Sergio Pérez has a car that will give him every option of winning the overall title, as we have been doing in recent years”.