The Lotus ART team has announced the signing of Esteban Gutierrez as one of its official drivers for the upcoming 2011 GP2 Championship season.

Gutierrez, who secured the inaugural GP3 crown for ART Grand Prix after putting in some stunning performances, has been a very successful part of the team for the past two seasons, GP3 in 2010 and the F3 Euro Series in 2009 and will take part in both the GP2 Asia championship and the GP2 Main Series.

On November 18th, Esteban will take to the wheel of a GP2 contender for the first time for the roll out of the GP2 2011 at the Paul Ricard circuit. He will also drive on all four days of the inter season test sessions organized for Abu Dhabi on November 23/24 and 27/28.

Frederic Vasseur: "After our title in the GP3 Series, this is the logical next step to make with Esteban and I'm delighted our collaboration will bring him to the best F1 feeder series, the GP2 Championship. Esteban is an extremely talented driver and despite his young age, is also very mature. He is an easy going person and everyone at Lotus ART Team enjoys working with him and we look forward to racing with him again next season."

Esteban Gutierrez: "It will be a very interesting season and I am delighted to continue my career with Lotus ART Team because they are definitely one of the best race teams. The GP2 Series is a new exciting challenge with long races and pit stops as well as tyre management. There is a lot of new parameters that I will have to learn to cope with but with Lotus ART I am in the best school possible. I will do my best to make things run smoothly and hopefully I will have a good debut season."