Tung lands GP2 seat

BCN Competicion was so impressed with German F3 champion king Ho-Pin Tung, who has already exceeded expectations, that it signed him to fill its vacant second seat.

The 24-year old Dutch-Chinese driver will slot in alongside F1 refugee Sakon Yamamoto in an all-rookie line-up, filling the void created by Ricardo Risatti's withdrawal last week. Tung, who has tested an F1 car with Williams and produced Team China's best results in A1 Grand Prix, becomes the first driver of Chinese origin to race in the GP2 Series.

I am very happy to have the opportunity to compete with BCN," he said, "I am grateful to my private sponsors, who supported this huge step forward in my career. To get to F1, as every young driver knows, GP2 is the best launching series. And it is my ambition as long as I am a racing driver to become the first ever Chinese F1 driver. “

“The first half of the season will be hard for me, as there is no more pre-season testing, and this means I might have a disadvantage compared to all the other drivers," he confirmed, "I will have to learn quickly, but I am confident that, in the second part of the season, I will meet expectations and come up with good results."

Team boss Enrique Scalabroni, who tested the likes of veterans Jose Maria Lopez and Ernesto Viso over the winter, is equally confident that Tung's talent will shine through.

"I think, for BCN Competición, it is important to have a very talented young driver, such as Ho-Pin Tung," the Argentine insisted, "Even if he arrives to GP2 with no previous experience in the category, I think Ho-Pin will show in a short time just who he is."