Fisichella Motor Sport International has announced that it has signed Rodolfo Gonzalez to compete in the four upcoming GP2 Asia events that will make up the remainder of the 2008/09 season.

Gonzalez, who is 22-years-old, began his career at the age of six when he began competing in karts in his native Venezuela. By the time he was ten, he had collected two national championship and was a three-time regional champion. Over the next four years he karted in the UK and Europe, picking up four race wins and nine podiums.

He began his racing career with karting in 1998, where he competed in the Yamaha British Championship, finishing fourth. The following year he picked up two wins and three podiums in the Junior ICA British Championship, and in 2000 finished runner-up in the championship after scoring six wins and 14 podiums. 2001 saw Gonzalez side-lined for half the season with a broken wrist, although he still managed three victories in the events he was able to race in.

Gonzalez was forced to sit out of racing in 2002 due to budget issues but was back with a bang in 2003 when he debuted in Formula Ford collecting two wins, two fastest laps and a pole position in two races of the British Championship at Snetterton. The following season saw him complete half a season in Formula Renault.

He raced the whole British Formula Renault in 2005, and finished on the podium twice. The following year he moved up to the British Formula 3 Championship and won the national class after dominating the series, winning 14 races, taking 18 further podiums and scoring 16 fastest laps. The following season, remaining in F3 but moving up to the international class, he scored one podium and eight other top six finishes. Gonzalez has most recently been in action in the 2008 F3 Euroseries where he scored the fastest lap at Pau.

Gonzalez will now face the challenge of the GP2 Asia Series with FMSI. The team will head to Bahrain this week for round three and then move to Qatar on 6-7 February for the first ever GP2 night race. The event will then support the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix on 4-5 April and the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix on 24-26 April, which will be the venue of the 2008/09 season finale.

Rodolfo Gonzalez: "The good vibe I had when I drove the F3000 in Magione last year gave me the opportunity to evaluate my participation in GP2. The Asian series is a good benchmark and will be useful to build up my brain and muscles before facing the main series and I want to seriously acquaint myself with this car before going any further. The FMSI situation suited my plans and I am happy to take over the car and race in the remaining four races of the calendar. The Coloni family helped me with my first Euro 3000 approach and I have decided to continue with them and with a programme which may lead to bigger and better things in the future."

Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: "Gonzalez is a good asset for FMSI. With Zuber concentrating on the main series, it was great to know that we had Rodolfo coming to us to help us maintain our good racing level in the Asian series. I had the opportunity to evaluate him during his first outing in F3000 last year and made a deal with him there and then. We know this is a serious commitment from him and we know that he is counting on our experience to make progress with his career. For this we are currently planning on his future starting from this week in Bahrain and are working on a long-term strategy soon to be revealed.