Nico Huelkenberg named as test driver for F1 team Williams for 2008
Thu, Dec 13, 2007
AP (Associated Press)
>OXFORD, England (AP) - Nico Huelkenberg will be a test driver for Formula One team Williams next season.
Williams said Thursday that the 20-year-old German had made "a positive impression and conducted himself with maturity" during a two-day testing session last week in Jerez, Spain, winning him the job.
Huelkenberg said the test drive was the realization of an ambition.
"When I actually got out on track ... it fulfilled every expectation and more," Huelkenberg said. "So to have represented myself sufficiently well to have been appointed as the team's official test driver is the most amazing news and for me. Christmas has come early."
Over the past three seasons, the former German kart champion has contested the German Formula BMW championship, German F3, A1 GP and the Formula Three Euroseries.
From the 68 starts he made in those competitions, he has claimed 25 wins and 14 poles, winning the Formula BMW ADAC title in 2005 and helping the German team to its A1 GP title in 2006-07.
Huelkenberg will also race the Formula 3 Euroseries next season alongside his testing duties.
"Clearly he has shown demonstrable talent in the junior formulae, but it was important for us to see if he could make the step to Formula One," Williams technical director Sam Michael said. "On the evidence we have so far, Nico is a quick and capable driver."
