Controversial racer Johnny Cecotto Jr is to return to Trident Racing this year as he attempts a fifth season of GP2 Series competition.
The Venezuelan-German driver began his first full GP2 season with the Italian squad back in 2010 {note 1}, securing a best finish of 9th in points in 2012 with two wins for Barwa Addax.
A disastrous season last year with Arden – mostly of his own making {note 2} – has prompted Cecotto to move back to his starting point at Trident, in the hope that it will kick start his career.
The 24-year-old commented: “After the last season, I really want to be back at the wheel to give my best to win!”
Cecotto, whose best finish for Trident during his original stint was a 4th place during the Monaco Sprint Race, is confident that he can find success again with the Italian squad. “I have found people in Trident with whom I have a really good feeling and with great competences. My new engineers and mechanics have the same determination as me and the same desire to win so I am sure we will do a great job!”
Trident, too, have endured a difficult few seasons toward the rear of the GP2 field, taking a disappointing 11th in the Teams’ Championship last year.
Although they did win the reverse Sprint Race at the Hungaroring with Nathanaël Berthon, the squad’s second seat proved to be a revolving door as Kevin Ceccon, Ricardo Teixeira, Sergio Campana and Gianmarco Raimondo all shared the second seat during the season.
Whether Cecotto Jr can help propel Trident back up the order remains to be seen, but the 24-year-old is a known quantity now and if nothing else, his opponents have clear idea of how to race against him.
{note 1}
Although Cecotto Jr started his first full season with Trident, he did make appearances at two rounds in 2009 with Dave Price Racing.
{note 2}
Last year, Cecotto Jr was involved in a number of very serious incidents, earning him a reputation as an occasionally reckless and potentially dangerous competitor. During the Sprint Race at Barcelona, Cecotto Jr appeared to deliberately drive into Caterham’s Sergio Canamasas during the closing stages of the race, resulting in a blockage of cars and a minor pile-up. In this instance, Cecotto Jr went unpenalised.
Cecotto Jr was in the news again two weeks later at Monaco when he out-braked himself into St Devote on the opening lap, causing a huge pile-up that got him banned from the next day’s Sprint Race.
Most seriously, during qualifying for the opening round at Sepang, Cecotto Jr deliberately crashed into and drove Sam Bird off the circuit, when he felt the RUSSIAN TIME racer had blocked him during a fast lap. Cecotto Jr’s qualifying lap was deleted, forcing him to start from the rear of the grid.
