David Price Racing (DPR) has confirmed Giacomo Ricci as replacement driver for injured Michael Herck at the first round of the 2008 GP2 Series to be held in Barcelona, Spain this weekend. Ricci joins Herck's team mate Diego Nunes at this event.

Herck was ruled out of the opening event following a hand injury sustained in the Bahrain sprint race of the GP2 Asia Series. Set to join DPR for the coming season, Herck has been forced to delay his debut with the team and is receiving specialist treatment in efforts to return to full fitness as quickly as possible.

Ricci raced in the USA-based Champ Car Atlantic Series in 2007, finishing sixth in the Drivers Championship with eight top ten finishes from 12 races. The 23-year-old Italian driver will make his GP2 debut when he takes the start for the first race in Barcelona, at the Formula One supporting race weekend.

His previous experience includes championship titles in both the Formula 3000 Italian and Euro Series in 2006, having started his single-seater in Formula BMW, in which he took the Rookie of the Year title in the 2001 German Formula BMW Championship.

David Price, Team Principal, DPR says of Herck's temporary replacement, "We're obviously disappointed that we're not able to start the season with our two regular drivers, but we're pleased to welcome Giacomo to the team for the first round and we hope that he'll quickly settle in to the team. Without any GP2 experience Giacomo has a tough task ahead of him especially with so little track time that we have at these F1 meetings, but we'll give him as much help as possible to bring him up to speed. It will be the first time that any team has raced with the new GP2 car, so from that perspective Giacomo will be at no disadvantage."

Speaking of the team's prospects for the weekend, Price adds, "We're looking forward to this new season of GP2 racing. The new car is quick, easy to work with and offers scope for the drivers to show their technical and driving skills, with the car set up being very important to overall success. With two rookie drivers and a grid with around half of the drivers in their second season of GP2 racing, we know that every race weekend is going to be very tough and with a high level of competitiveness. Our aim will be to develop the drivers over the course of the 10 rounds of the Series. Diego has already shown in the GP2 Asia Series that he is a quick learner, with his strong finishes as that championship progressed."

The GP2 Series kicks off in Barcelona with the Feature race on Saturday afternoon and the Sprint race on Sunday morning. It moves on to Turkey, then Monaco, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Belgium and finally Monza, Italy.