Turvey joins Chilton at Silverstone

Oliver Turvey will test for Carlin at this week’s official GP2 test at Silverstone alongside Max Chilton. The former Carlin driver is assisting the team in the continued development of its GP2 car in the absence of Mikhail Aleshin.

Aleshin, who won the Formula Renault 3.5 title with Carlin last season, was due to race in both the Asia and Main series with the British squad this year but has had to withdraw from GP2 due to current budgetary issues.

Joining the team at this week’s two day official test at Silverstone is British driver Oliver Turvey, who has a long standing relationship with Carlin through his place on the Racing Steps Foundation. Turvey was British F3 vice champion to Jaime Alguersuari in 2008 with Carlin, and raced again with the team in the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, taking pole position and a race victory at Monaco.

Turvey also has experience in GP2, having won last year in Abu Dhabi before going on to record one pole position and four podiums in last year’s GP2 Main Series. The Brit also competed in this year’s GP2 Asia Series so is perfectly placed to assist Carlin in the development of its new GP2 car.

Team Principal Trevor Carlin said, “Unfortunately due to some funding problems Mikhail has had to withdraw from his GP2 programme, although he is working hard to secure alternative funding. In his absence, we have Oliver in the car who we know extremely well from previous seasons. Oliver has a great deal of experience and is the perfect driver to help us progress further with the car. We’re still assessing all the options for our second driver for the season.”