David Price Racing is strengthening its engineering operation and investing in an expanded research and development programme for its 2008 GP2 campaign. Gerry Hughes has joined the company to lead the engineering department and the team has further plans to be instigated over the coming months.

Hughes, formerly Chief Race Engineer at the now-defunct Super Aguri F1 team, brings over 15 years of Formula One experience to DPR. His appointment is the cornerstone of a planned programme of investment in the engineering operation which includes F1- level aerodynamics research consultancy, a focus on simulation and 7-post rig testing. An advanced R & D focus is also in the pipeline with Hughes leading the initiative.

David Price, Team Principal, DPR explains, "GP2 continues to become more and more competitive. We've been fortunate to have an excellent on-track engineering team led by Andy Miller and to keep making progress we have invested more heavily in the engineering operation, with an increased emphasis on the off-track programme. Gerry's arrival strengthens our team, which was already highly experienced, so it brings us up to a very high standard. Combining this level of personnel with a structured R & D programme aims to improve our capabilities and performance potential."

Hughes says of his role in the expansion plans, "We have a very experienced race engineer with Andy Miller, and Tom has been race engineer with DPR for four seasons now. I hope I will add another element to the team bringing fresh ideas and recent Formula One thinking. I think this can add to the professionalism in terms of procedures and operational aspects of running the car which will reap rewards in terms of on-track performance."

Price concludes, "Our commitment to making performance gains is a long-term strategy and our aim is that over the remainder of this European season, through the Asia Series this winter and into next season we'll keep developing our package of drivers, car and team, and that ultimately it will translate into improved results. The expansion drive has been helped by Andre Herck buying into the team and I think we now have the strongest engineering department that we've had since we joined GP2 in 2005, and the biggest investment in off-track performance related activities.