FORCE INDIA VALENCIA SCHEDULE

Nico Hulkenberg will be the first to drive a Force India this season when he initiates the testing session that begins on February 1 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

The German, who was recently announced as the Silverstone-based outfit’s test and reserve driver, will then handover the duties to Paul di Resta for the afternoon stint and the entire second day.

Adrian Sutil will take over from the Scot on the final day.

“Nico will get in the VJM03 on Tuesday morning, with Paul taking over in the afternoon. The Scot stays in for day 2 with Adrian doing day 3,” confirmed the squad’s Twitter page.

The launch of the new car, the VJM04, was postponed in order to give it more development time, although the team has yet to confirm when it would make its debut.

FORCE INDIA AIMING FOR FIFTH PLACE

fter failing to grab sixth place by a whisker in the constructors’ championship last year, Force India is now aiming to step up its performance for 2011 hoping to secure its best results in the final standings.

The Silverstone-based squad has retained the services of Adrian Sutil for his fourth successive year with the team and promoted last season’s test driver Paul di Resta, who is the reigning DTM champion, to a race seat. Nico Hulkenberg, who impressed with a pole at the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix with Williams, has replaced Di Resta’s position as a reserve.

With the line-up, the team’s COO Otmar Szafnauer is confident that the squad can achieve its goals this season.

“Well, what we want to do this year is start the year performing as well as last year, and keep that performance throughout,” he said. “And if we can do that we’d like to continue to score points regularly, as well as push for some podium positions. If we can do those things, fifth in the championship would be our target.”

Although, the team clinched its first podium position in 2009, it failed to add to its tally last season even though it started 2010 on a strong note. However, its performances deteriorated as Williams upped its game scoring 32 points in the last six grands prix compared to Force India’s nine in as many outings.

Source : www.f1pulse.com

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Di Resta and Sutil confirmed for 2011

Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil have been confirmed as Force India's driver pairing for 2011, while Nico Hulkenberg has been signed up as a reserve driver. The news means Tonio Liuzzi will not drive for the team this season despite having a contract.

Di Resta, who raced against and beat world champion Sebastian Vettel in the F3 Euroseries, drove in eight Friday practice sessions last season as well as winning the DTM title. On the strength of those performances he has been promoted to race driver at Force India, making him one of three British drivers lining up on the grid in 2011.

"I'm very excited for this, it's great to be doing this in Glasgow, announcing this news," he said. "Last year I became third driver here and good things happened so here's hoping we get more good things. I've not set any ambitions for this year, I want to enjoy it but Force India has plans and ambitions. I think Silverstone could be a personal highlight this year... I've had no advice from my family yet but I'm sure they'll offer it!"

He will line up alongside Sutil, who finished 11th in the drivers' standings and scored well over half the team's points in 2010. His previous contract expired at the end of last year but Force India has opted to renew it, meaning he will start his fifth consecutive season as a race driver at the team.