Hilmer Motorsport joins GP2 Series field as another team folds

GP2 Series organizers are pleased to announce that Hilmer Motorsport have been allocated an entry for the 2013 season. The German squad whose Team Principal Franz Hilmer already owns Formtech GmbH – a supplier for several Formula One teams – joins the thirteen team field in replacement of Ocean Racing Technology.

Hilmer Motorsport will run their GP2/11 cars for the first time on February 27-28-29 in Jerez, Spain where the first official pre-season testing will take place.

GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel commented: “I am pleased to welcome Hilmer Motorsport to our category. It is the first time since the Series’ inception that we will have a German team in our field. They are already hard at work to be ready and competitive from the first pre-season test session next month in Jerez. I am sure that they will be a great addition to our grid.

I would like to thank Tiago Monteiro and everyone involved in his team for their work and dedication for the past four seasons."

Hilmer Motorsport Team Principal Franz Hilmer added: “We are delighted that Hilmer Motorsport will participate to the prestigious GP2 Series. I would like to thank Bruno Michel for his support. We are currently working on putting together a strong team of highly experienced professionals in order to be ready for the first challenge of the season."

Ocean Racing Technology Team Managers Tiago Monteiro and Jose Guedes said: “We are sad to announce that our team was forced to stop its activity in GP2 and GP3 due to financial difficulties caused by the lack of payment from our partners Parkalgar and the Portuguese Government.

We enjoyed the short time we were in both Series', we had a great time with success achieving wins and podiums, but unfortunately we cannot sustain our activity in these conditions. We sure hope to be back once these problems are solved, and in the meantime we wish a successful experience to Hilmer Motorsport and a great season to GP2 and our competitors.

We want to thank everyone for their support during those four years: fans, friends, employees, GP2, drivers and competitors."