GP2 Series

[Mekola]

GP2 announces its 2010 calendar

For the next season, the F1 supporter series has announced a season of 11 rounds. Then will be alongside F1, plus one more round at Portimao at mid-June. After two collective test sessions in March and April, the calendar will be open next May 8th and 9th at Barcelona, Spain, and will be closed next November 13th and 14th at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi.

Only twelve teams will be admitted for this season. That's because Durango team had left the series due to financial problems, and GP2 organizers doesn't want to give the vacant slot to any team for only one season. In 2011, as is usual in the series, all teams and suppliers will have to re-apply to renew their contracts for three years.

Alas, the series will have a sister support series, GP3 Series, with cars that will race in only 8 of the GP2 rounds and that will have three-car teams.

It will be very interesting to see the new crop of GP2, because in 2010 a complete new generation will enter in the frame, leaded by ART-bound and F3 Euroseries champion Jules Bianchi, alongside some veterans that will continue, like Davide Valsecchi, Sergio Pérez and Giedo van der Garde.

Facts about 2010 GP2 season

2010 Preseason Collective Tests:
23-24-25 Mar Le Castellet, Francia
7-8-9 Aprl Barcelona, Spain

2010 Season:
8-9 May Barcelona, Spain
14-15 May Monte-Carlo, Monaco
29-30 May Istanbul, Turkey
19-20 Jun Portimao, Portugal
26-27 Jun Valencia, Spain
10-11 Jul Silverstone, United Kingdom
24-25 Jul Hockenheim, Germany
31 Jul – 1 Aug Budapest, Hungary
28-29 Aug Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
11-12 Sep Monza, Italy
13-14 Nov Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

2010 Teams:
1, 2 ART Grand Prix FRA
3, 4 Bara Addax Team ESP
5, 6 Super Nova Racing GBR
7, 8 Racing Engineering ESP
9, 10 iSport International GBR
11, 12 DAMS FRA
14, 15 Rapax (ex Piquet GP) ITA
16, 17 Arden International NED
18, 19 Ocean Racing Technology POR
20, 21 Scuderia Coloni ITA
24, 25 Trident Racing ITA
26, 27 DPR GBR

[lightmas]

i love GP2..cant wait to see the young talent that could make it to f1 in 2011.

[emziibbyx]

Anyone know of / have a list of drivers that are entering the 2010 GP2 championship?
I assume the entry list will probably be made up of a lot of the 2009 GP2 Asia drivers?

[Paolo_Lasardi]

As far as I know

ART: Jules Bianchi (F), Sam Bird (GB)
Ocean: Max Chilton (GB), Fabio Leimer (CH)
Addax: Sergio Perez (MEX), Giedo van der Garde (NL)

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Super Nova: Marcus Ericsson (S), Josef Kral (CZ)

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Arden: Charles Pic (F)

[emziibbyx]

Sweet.

Glad Charles' has a drive, he's pretty awesome when he's on form.
and Sam Bird driving for ART? I smell a possible championship win there...

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Indeed, being with ART, the championship must be the goal. Bianchi will be tough to beat, though ...

[emziibbyx]

I think Sam can beat Bianchi, when he's completely focussed he can be a right tough cookie.

[Paolo_Lasardi]

iSport: Davide Valsecchi (I), Oliver Turvey (GB)

[emziibbyx]

Urgh, not Turvey!

[lightmas]

teams and drivers can be found on wiki....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_GP2_Series_season

[arizal_adl]

I would like to watch the race.. however, its not available where I am at..

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Coloni: Alberto Valerio (BR)

[emziibbyx]

Valerio? WHY does he even bother?

[Paolo_Lasardi]

DAMS: Jerome d'Ambrosio (B), Ho Pin Tung (VRC)

[Paolo_Lasardi]

Abu Dhabi:

Great races by Turvey and Bianchi - great moves!

It's a shame that Herck did not got a penalty for his moves on Bird and Ericsson.

[lightmas]

great race on friday

[lightmas]

GP2 asia must be getting tight on money...they now only go to Abu Dhabi and bahrain

[emziibbyx]

That's a shame... although it could be like FPA Autumn Trophy - they have three races at Snetterton + three races at Brands.

[lightmas]

That's a shame... although it could be like FPA Autumn Trophy - they have three races at Snetterton + three races at Brands.

but it used to go to more places

[emziibbyx]

Dunno then, maybe they are running low on money.

[Mekola]

I assume the entry list will probably be made up of a lot of the 2009 GP2 Asia drivers?

As it was last year, generally GP2 Asia is used as "race-tests" to evaluate drivers for the main season. Teams like Barwa Addax, ART, SuperNova and Arden were changing drivers during this short Asia season to look for their 2010 Main Series entries.

[Mekola]

BTW - This weekend are the first Bahrein rounds, and Bianchi made the pole.

[Paolo_Lasardi]

GP2 Asia Series
Sakhir / BRN

Feature Race

Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Davide Valsecchi iSport 1h02m05.146s
2. Luca Filippi Meritus + 2.792s
3. Javier Villa Arden + 6.067s
4. Giacomo Ricci DPR + 6.238s
5. Charles Pic Arden + 13.026s
6. Alvaro Parente Coloni + 17.777s
7. Sergio Perez Addax + 23.948s
8. Adrian Zaugg Trident + 25.479s
9. Oliver Turvey iSport + 29.253s
10. Jules Bianchi ART + 33.238s
11. Daniele Zampieri Rapax + 34.509s
12. Yelmer Buurman Ocean + 39.513s
13. Sam Bird ART + 40.415s
14. Christian Vietoris DAMS + 41.750s
15. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS + 45.779s
16. Will Bratt Coloni + 46.803s
17. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Rapax + 48.577s
18. Max Chilton Addax + 1m05.086s
19. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova + 1m06.211s
20. Fabio Leimer Ocean + 1m23.385s
21. Josef Kral Super Nova + 1m53.049s
22. Plamen Kralev Trident + 1 lap
23. Michael Herck DPR + 2 laps

Retirements:

Alexander Rossi Meritus 26 laps


Sprint Race

Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Charles Pic Arden 41m11.960s
2. Giacomo Ricci DPR + 3.586s
3. Javier Villa Arden + 9.371s
4. Sam Bird ART + 22.388s
5. Edoardo Piscopo DAMS + 23.193s
6. Oliver Turvey iSport + 25.110s
7. Vladimir Arabadzhiev Rapax + 25.866s
8. Daniele Zampieri Rapax + 28.950s
9. Christian Vietoris DAMS + 32.499s
10. Yelmer Buurman Ocean + 33.076s
11. Josef Kral Super Nova + 33.489s
12. Max Chilton Addax + 36.437s
13. Michael Herck DPR + 36.694s
14. Jake Rosenzweig Super Nova + 47.789s
15. Fabio Leimer Ocean + 49.289s
16. Plamen Kralev Trident + 1m27.838s
17. Sergio Perez Addax + 1m29.653s
18. Luca Filippi Meritus + 1m36.832s
19. Adrian Zaugg Trident + 1 lap
20. Davide Valsecchi iSport + 1 lap

Not classified/retirements:

Jules Bianchi ART 19 laps
Will Bratt Coloni 2 laps
Alexander Rossi Meritus 2 laps
Alvaro Parente Coloni 0 laps


Davide Valsecchi (I) is crowned GP2 Asia Champion.