The off-season preparations for the 2009 GP2 Series continue for Racing Engineering as the GP2 teams head to the Spanish circuit of Jerez on the 29th and 30th of October for two days of testing. Following on from their victory in the 2008 Driver Championship, the Spanish team is looking for a replacement for Giorgio Pantano who took four feature race wins last year on his way to securing the title.

After last month's Paul Ricard tests where Racing Engineering tried out a number of drivers with limited experience of GP2, these Jerez tests will see the Andalusia-based team running four drivers who are much more familiar with the current GP2 Dallara as they were all regular competitors in the 2008 GP2 Series.

On the first day Alvaro Parente and Andreas Zuber will be driving Racing Engineering's Dallara GP2 cars.

For Alvaro Parente this test will be something special. In 2002 the young Portuguese successfully participated with Racing Engineering in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship. Alvaro won the driver championship titles of the British Formula 3 Championship in 2005 and obtained the driver's title of the World Series by Renault in 2007. Being a rookie in the 2008 GP2 Series, Alvaro finished the championship in 8th position.

Andreas Zuber, the Austrian driver with residency in Dubai, will be driving Racing Engineering's second car. Andreas can look back onto an extensive experience in motor racing, having made his steps from karting up to GP2 passing through Formula Renault 2.0, Formula 3 Euro Series and the World Series by Renault. Andreas is currently participating in the GP2 Asia Series as well as the Superleague Formula.

Racing Engineering's cars will be switched to Luca Filippi and Vitaly Petrov for the second day of the test.

The Italian GP2 driver Luca Filippi has already tested with Racing Engineering in 2007 and will be back with the Spanish team in Jerez. Luca has successfully participated in GP2 during the last three years, with his 4th position in the 2007 championship being an outstanding achievement. Luca, like Andreas Zuber, is participating in the current GP2 Asia Series.

The driver line up Racing Engineering is evaluating in Jerez is completed by Vitaly Petrov. The Russian can look back onto enormous experience in various categories, such as Formula Renault, Euro 3000 and even the Le Mans Series. Vitaly joined GP2 in 2006 and has since then permanently improved his driving skills finishing the 2008 season in 7th position. Vitaly is also currently participating in the GP2 Asia Series.