Angolan driver eyes Team Lotus role in 2011

Ricardo Teixeira

(GMM) Team Lotus looks set to have no fewer than four reserve drivers in 2011.

It has already emerged that Davide Valsecchi and Luiz Razia will almost certainly appear in the T128 race cars on some Friday mornings this year.

And Karun Chandhok is also close to securing a role with the Hingham based team in support of race lineup Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.

Media reports at the weekend suggested that yet another contender is 26-year-old Portuguese born Angolan driver Ricardo Teixeira.

Throughout his formative career, including GP2 and Formula 2, Teixeira has enjoyed the substantial backing of the Angolan national oil company Sonangol.

After the rest of the F1 teams departed Valencia late last week, and attention turned to McLaren's launch in Berlin, Lotus stayed behind and Teixeira spent some time at the wheel of the T128.

"I am really pleased I could help out with the filming (of the car) and after my first taste of an F1 car I can't wait to have another go," he said.

Technical boss Mike Gascoyne said Teixeira "acquitted himself well and that was exactly what we needed him to do".