Jensen MotorSport hires GP2 engineer
Raul Prados (31) has been Race Engineer for the Carlin GP2 team in the 2011 season. Previously, Raul was Race Engineer for the successful iSport team including winning the 2010 GP2 Asia championship with his driver David Valsecchi. A native of Valencia Spain, Raul has a University degree in Mechanical Engineering, and extensive engineering experience with top teams in various European formula championships.
“This is an exciting new chapter of my career to join Jensen MotorSport, which has proven to be one of the top North American open-wheel racing teams", said Prados. “With a mix of road courses, street circuits, and ovals, IndyCar racing provides a very interesting challenge for race engineers."
Jensen MotorSport team owner Eric Jensen states, “With a new specification tire being introduced for the 2012 championship, this off-season will be a race of a different kind as teams work to optimize new set-ups. We expect the addition of the highly skilled engineer Raul Prados to pay big dividends for our competitiveness as Raul integrates his technical knowledge and processes from his GP2 experience including SIM programs and computer-based models."
The Firestone Indy Lights Championship www.indycar.com/roadtoindy is the top open-wheel development series in North America. Primarily competing at events together with the Izod IndyCar Series, the 2011 schedule included such high-profile races as the Long Beach Grand Prix, St. Pete Grand Prix, Honda Indy Toronto, Las Vegas Grand Prix, and an event together with IndyCar at the Indianapolis 500.
Prados, who will begin with the Jensen MotorSport team at the 2011 season ending race at Las Vegas, will also be working with young drivers being developed by Jensen MotorSport – including American driver Ryan Tveter – with winter testing programs and the USF2000 winter series races in Florida at the Sebring and Palm Beach circuits in February 2012.
Jensen MotorSport has two races remaining in the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights championship season including Kentucky Speedway and Las Vegas Speedway. Canadian driver David Ostella drives the #16 Global Precast Team Jensen entry, and British driver Oliver Webb drives the #12 ExpoSystems Team Jensen entry.