Brazil's Luiz Razia will return to Arden International for 2012, the team where he started in
GP2 in the winter Asia series in 2008/9.
"I know them all already," said the 22-year-old driver who raced for Caterham Team AirAsia last season. "I have won races already with Arden in the past and so there is no need to adapt myself to the team."
As well as his Bahrain sprint race win in that first
GP2 Asia season with Arden, Razia also has a 2009 win at Monza with Coloni along with four second place finishes and a further podium at Hungary in 2011, in four years of competing in in
GP2 that have also seen him drive for Rapax and Barwa Addax.
It's exactly that sort of proven success and moreover experience that Razia can bring that the Arden team are looking for in 2012.
Having missed an experienced driver in recent seasons I'm extremely happy that we have signed Luiz to join the Arden team in
GP2 this year," said Arden team manager Julian Rouse. "He has shown a lot of promise in the
GP2 category and having spent some time with him already it is clear that he is very focused, fit and ready to compete at the highest level."
Aware that the team are looking at him to lead their 2012 campaign while their
new second driver Simon Trummer makes the lead up from GP3, Razia is also under pressure to prove himself in 2012 if there is to be any prospect of him being among the growing ranks of former
GP2 drivers racing in F1 in the future.
"I want to thank all the team for their trust in me and I will do my best to make sure we achieve the success that we all want," said Razia. "I'm very pleased to accept their invite to try and give them the results they deserve."
"I have every confidence that together we can be right at the front straight away," said Rouse, setting the expectations he has for Razia in 2012. "His technical understanding of the car and the tyres is extremely impressive and this will help to move the program forward quickly."
The team will be taking part in this week's three-day test session at
Jerez in Spain that commences on Tuesday, February 28. The season proper starts at Sepeng in Malaysia on arch 24-25.