FEBRUARY 9, 2005

Premat confirmed with Todt Jr

Alexandre Premat, runner-up to Jamie Green in last year's Formula 3 Euroseries has been confirmed as Nico Rosberg's team in the ART team, which is being run by Jean Todt's son Nicolas with engineering by the ASM team, which ran Premat and Green last year. The team has finally been given an official name "ART Grand Prix" which is an odd name given that GP2 cars do not compete in Grands Prix but perhaps this indicates that the team has big ambitions in the future.

"I think that with Alexandre and Nico, ART Grand Prix will benefit from the services of a very balanced and efficient duo," says Todt Jr. "I also believe that signing a Frenchman such as Alexandre will be appreciated by most of the country, which will now have at least three drivers in the GP2 championship, as times are not that good in regard to Frenchmen in Formula 1 right now."

It is not yet clear where the money will come from for the team but Premat has the big advantage of coming from a wealthy family. The family business STP Premat is a major haulage business in France with 200 vehicles and 300 employees.