The David Price Racing (DPR) squad will make a return to the track this weekend as the first round of the 2009 GP2 Series takes place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. After a busy winter season in the GP2 Asia series, Romanian driver Michael Herck and Italian Giacomo Ricci will return with DPR for an assault on the full season of GP2.

The Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona played host to the 13 GP2 teams earlier in the year for the final pre season test. During the three days of running DPR put the 2009 car through its paces, with Herck behind the wheel. Ricci only finalised plans to race with the DPR squad after the test session, so will have plenty of ground to make up as the series takes to the track in the practice sessions.

With long straights and a variety of corners, the 4.655 km Circuit de Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder track. The changeable conditions of the circuit, notably the wind speed and wind direction, can have a big impact on the cars' handling through corners. These characteristics create challenges for the teams throughout the race weekend, on a circuit which teams are mostly very familiar with due to its popularity for testing.

Leon Price DPR Team Manager: "It's great to have an element of consistency with this seasons driver line up, we are pleased to welcome back Michael (Herck), who achieved good results towards the end of last season. He missed out on some of the opening rounds due to a hand injury, so it'll be good for him to have the full season and really get to grips with the car.

"Giacomo is no stranger to the team either. He competed with us in the GP2 Asia series over the winter, as well as completing two races in the main series with us last season. We have two strong drivers with experience of the team and the car, so our aim is to go out and have two consistent races over the weekend, if we can bring the cars home with two full race distances and strong results, then we have something to build on for the rest of the season."

Following on from last year's successful launch of the second generation car, 2009 sees the GP2 Series pick up where it left off as it continues to show why the championship deserves its unofficial title of the strongest Formula 1 feeder category. The opening round of the 2009 GP Series will kick off on Friday 8th May with practice and qualifying, before the Feature race on Saturday 9th, with the Sprint race taking place on Sunday morning.