10/06/2008
NEWS STORY
Marko Asmer will become the first Estonian driver to compete in the GP2 Series as he joins Fisichella Motor Sport International for the remainder of the 2008 season.
The 23-year-old reigning British F3 Champion will join the team in this week's mid-season test at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France, and will make his debut with the team later this month at the Magny Cours race alongside Roldan Rodriguez. The French round is the fourth of this season's ten weekends.
Asmer won the Nordic, Finnish, Baltic and Estonian karting championships in one season at the age of 15 and dominated the 2001 Karting World Championship. He made his single-seater debut in Formula Ford in 2003, earning five victories and 2nd in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. He took part in several test days with the BMW Williams F1 team.
He entered the British F3 championship in 2004, and a year later scored six podiums and two pole positions in the 2005 championship. He moved to Japan in 2006 to compete in the All Japan F3 and scored one race win and finished seventh in the driver's championship.
In 2007 Marko juggled a second season in the All Japan F3 alongside the British F3 Championship. He dominated the championship, scoring 11 wins and two further podiums, and sealed the title with three rounds to go. Alongside his GP2 drive for the rest of this season, Marko will continue his 2008 role as test driver for the BMW Sauber F1 Team.
Marko Asmer: "I'm totally delighted to get this chance with Fisichella Motorsport in GP2 for the rest of the season. It gives me an exciting opportunity to race competitively alongside my BMW Sauber F1 Team testing programme. My sincere thanks to the FMS team and I also owe this one in a big way to my Norwegian sponsor Explora Capital, my management team and my father Toivo. With only one day of testing this car it's certainly going to be a challenge but I'll grab it with both hands and give my all. I'm itching to race: bring on Magny-Cours!"
Paolo Coloni, Team Principal: "We are very happy to welcome Marko to the team. It will give him a good opportunity to race competitively alongside his F1 testing duties with the BMW Sauber F1 team. I am looking forward to working together with Marko at this week's test in preparation for his first race at Magny Cours."