The driver from Campinas travels to England at the end of the month to meet the team.
After testing for three other teams at the end of last year, André Negrão changed plans and ended up signing with Arden International for his rookie season in GP2 , whose 11 double rounds remain pegged to the Formula 1 calendar in 2014.
When in Abu Dhabi after the championship, Negrão had tested with Racing Engineering, Hilmer and Carlin Motorsport. The Austrian Rene Binder will be his partner.
The effervescence of the market of technicians and mechanics led to the correction of the route envisioned by the driver of 21 years. “Carlin seemed the most interesting alternative , but the engineer who worked on the tests , and with whom he mingled well, accepted a proposal from the Russian Team. And the range finder was to Arden. Consequently, Arden went from second to first option,” explained Negrao. With career administered by Novac Sports, he should be the sole representative of Brazil in major league access to F1 (GP2).
Founded by former racer Christian Horner, principal leader of the Red Bull in Formula 1, Arden is becoming a Brazilian home in GP2. It was the team of Bruno Senna in his first year in the series in 2007 , scored the win in Barcelona in the third stage , and Luiz Razia was runner up in the 2012 title campaign. Recently, Negrao met Bruno , spoke of the prospects and received the endorsement to run for Arden. ” He told me that the staff was very good , structured and that nothing was short from Carlin.”
Negrão travels to England on the 26st and will be presented to the staff for making the seat and pedal settings . Before the opening race, scheduled for early April in Bahrain , the category will promote three days of collective testing in Abu Dhabi and three more in Bahraini Sakhir circuit , all in March. To Negrao, these tests are very important in a series in which the limitation of training – pilots have only one 30-minute session before qualifying outlets – is an additional complicating factor. There is at least one more. “The tires are extremely difficult to deal with. The same as F1, but you can offset this with a series of aerodynamic and mechanical adjustments,” he recalled.
Despite his young age and limited experience in GP2, Negrao refuses to accept the role of rookie. “I’ve been three years in the World Series, which sometimes gets to be faster than GP2. Hopefully be competitive from the start of the championship, because my workouts in late 2013 were good. Of six sessions, I was among the top 10 in five. Besides, I know all the tracks except the Bahraini where we will go before the opening of the calendar, and Sochi , Russia , which will debut in the category , “he concluded.
André Negrao Website