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Post by paulgilb on May 5, 2009 23:28:52 GMT 1
The 5th GP2 season starts this weekend in Barcelona. The season consists of 2 races at each of 10 venues, as follows:
9-10 May: Barcelona 22-23 May: Monte Carlo 6-7 June: Istanbul 20-21 June: Silverstone 11-12 July: Nurburgring 25-26 July: Hungaroring 22-23 August: Valencia 29-30 August: Spa 12-13 September: Monza 19-20 September: Portimao (new circuit on calendar)
On Friday there is a 30-minute free practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session. The qualifying session decides the grid order for Saturday's race which has a length of 180 km.
During Saturday's race, each driver has to make a pit stop in which at least two tyres have to be changed.
On Sunday there is a sprint race of 120 km. The grid is decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday will start from pole position and the winner will start from 8th place.
Pole for Saturday races: 2 points
Saturday races: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 points for top 8 finishers
Sunday races: 6-5-4-3-2-1 points for top 6 finishers
Fastest lap: 1 point in each race. Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps. The driver must now also start the race from his allocated grid position and must finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap point.
Previous champions (drivers): 2005: Nico Rosberg 2006: Lewis Hamilton 2007: Timo Glock 2008: Giorgio Pantano
Previous champions (teams): 2005: ART Grand Prix 2006: ART Grand Prix 2007: iSport International 2008: Barwa Int Campos Racing
Teams and drivers:
Barwa Addax Team (formerly Campos Racing) 1 Vitaly Petrov (RUS) 2 Romain Grosjean (FRA)
iSport International 3 Giedo van der Garde (NED) 4 Diego Nunes (BRA)
Piquet GP 5 Roldan Rodriguez (ESP) 6 Alberto Valerio (BRA)
Fat Burner Racing Engineering 7 Lucas di Grassi (BRA) 8 Dani Clos (ESP)
ART Grand Prix 9 Pastor Maldonado (VEN) 10 Nicolas Hulkenberg (GER)
Telmex Arden International 11 Sergio Perez (MEX) 12 Edoardo Mortara (ITA)
Super Nova Racing 14 Luca Filippi (ITA) 15 Javier Villa (ESP)
DAMS 16 Jerome d’Ambrosio (BEL) 17 Kamui Kobayashi (JAP)
Trident Racing 18 Ricardo Teixeira (ANG) 19 Davide Rigon (ITA)
Fisichella Motor Sport 20 Andreas Zuber (UAE) 21 Luiz Razia (BRA)
Durango 22 Davide Valsecchi (ITA) 23 Nelson Panciatici (FRA)
Ocean Racing Technology (formerly BCN Competicion) 24 Karun Chandhok (IND) 25 Alvaro Parente (POR)
DPR 26 Michael Herck (ROM) 27 Giacomo Ricci (ITA)
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 6, 2009 22:45:46 GMT 1
Yay!! Very much looking forward to this. A very high quality field.
Setanta has the coverage, and on the basis of this weekend not all of it will be live (although I suspect during the summer when there is less on we may get live coverage). BBC may show some highlights as part of the race build up but I'm not holding my breath.
di Grassi has to start as the clear favourite - 2nd in 2007, 3rd last year despite missing the first 3 rounds. On top of his consistency, he stepped up his pace massively last year, I think it will all come together for him. I would say that Grosjean is his main title rival, but I fully expect him to replace Piquet at Renault mid-season, so it will be interesting to see how he starts. Hulkenburg will shine at ART as he did in the Asia Series, but as we've seen experience is so important at this level, and he doesn't have that. The DAMS pair have been very quick of late, but I'm not sure they have what it takes to win the European title.
Diappointment of the year? - Maldonado. I don't think ART is the right team for him as they will favour Hulkenburg, and his performances in the Asia Series have been less than impressive
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 7, 2009 8:35:14 GMT 1
The interesting ones will be Hulkenburg and Kobayashi. Hulk, to see if he can carry his A1GP form over into a more competitive series; Kobayashi, because I've heard very good things about him.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 7, 2009 19:02:25 GMT 1
The interesting ones will be Hulkenburg and Kobayashi. Hulk, to see if he can carry his A1GP form over into a more competitive series; Kobayashi, because I've heard very good things about him. I agree. This year will show if Hulkenburg is potentially good or potentially exceptional. If he can win the championship this year, which isn't impossible, he will show signs of being potentially exceptional. He reminds me of a young Alonso - he is always thinking, he knows when to push and when to conserve his tyres. And his raw pace is very strong indeed. Kobayashi will be an interesting one too. He comfortably won the Asia Series this year, although many have criticised him for not pushing 100%, especially in the sprint races. Some say he's not a great overtaker - I'm not sure about that. But Toyota will want to see either Kobayashi or Nakajima in the F1 team sooner or later, and Kbayashi will need to show more if he is to demonstrate that he is more worthy than Trulli or Glock
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Post by paulgilb on May 8, 2009 23:50:44 GMT 1
Grid for Barcelona:
1 Grosjean 2 di Grassi 3 Petrov 4 Hulkenberg 5 Zuber 6 Filippi (3-place penalty) 7 d'Ambrosio 8 Nunes 9 Rodriguez 10 Maldonado 11 Perez 12 Villa (3-place penalty) 13 Mortara 14 Chandhok 15 Parente 16 Valerio 17 Dani Clos 18 van der Garde 19 Rigon 20 Valsecchi 21 Razia 22 Kobayashi 23 Ricci 24 Panciatici 25 Teixeira 26 Herck
Both Super Nova drivers were penalised for failing to sufficiently heed yellow flags during the free practice session.
Grosjean thus picks up the first 2 points of the season. The top 15 were all within 1 second of pole, and the top 24 were all within 2 seconds.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 8:40:27 GMT 1
No real surprise to see Grosjean, di Grassi and Hulkenburg up there. Good to see Zuber and Filippi qualify well - it's been tough for them of late. It just goes to show that it is a quality field this year (with the exception of a few at the back).
There is real doubt if a lot of the teams will survive this year. Costs are down, but GP2 is much more expensive than Formula 2 for instance. If F2 works, and it looks like it might, we may see drivers and teams drop off the GP2 grid this year.
The GP2 cars are the same as last year but have a bit more power. It is interesting to see as they look a lot more wild than they did last year.
I'm not sure if anyone will be watching (it's on Setanta 1 at 3am and 8am on Sunday with the sprint race live at 9.30 tomorrow), but the website will have live timing for the first time (about time)
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Post by Panda on May 9, 2009 8:55:50 GMT 1
A shame there's no British drivers in GP2 this year. They all seem to have moved on to other things. At least there's plenty in F2.
What's Giorgio Pantano doing this year?
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 9:13:28 GMT 1
A shame there's no British drivers in GP2 this year. They all seem to have moved on to other things. At least there's plenty in F2. What's Giorgio Pantano doing this year? I think the lack of British drivers is one of the reasons why other broadcasters haven't picked it up. BBC had paid for it along with the other support races on F1 weekends (Porsche Supercup and Formula BMW) but they want to focus on the F1 coverage . Eurosport's hands are probably tied having secured Max Mosley's F2 (GP2 is Bernie's baby). The problem with the British contingent in F2 is that none of them are very good. A lot of them are coming from Formula Palmer Audi, which isn't the same standard as World Series by Renault or GP2 where the real front-runners will be coming from. Besides moaning about why F1 teams haven't given him a chance this year, I don't know what Pantano is doing. There were rumours of him doing IndyCar but that didn't work out.
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Post by Panda on May 9, 2009 9:26:36 GMT 1
The problem with the British contingent in F2 is that none of them are very good. A lot of them are coming from Formula Palmer Audi, which isn't the same standard as World Series by Renault or GP2 where the real front-runners will be coming from. I was looking through the driver list yesterday and the lack of experience is the one thing that really stands out. FPA is definitely a few notches below World Series by Renault, which itself is a few notches below GP2 so I think it's too early to tell how good some of these drivers are, especially given how young some of them are. It will be interesting to see if any of the leading GP2 drivers switch to F2 next year and if any of the F2 drivers get any significant career boost from being in the championship.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 9:46:28 GMT 1
It will be interesting to see if any of the leading GP2 drivers switch to F2 next year and if any of the F2 drivers get any significant career boost from being in the championship. I think we will see more switches next year from GP2 to F2. But it will be the talented drivers struggling for money, rather than the Grosjeans, Kobayashis and Hulkenburgs who have F1 teams backing them. It's interesting that Red Bull have put the drivers in their young driver programme into F2 rather than GP2 this year (e.g. Wickens, Aleshin, etc). I don't think that Arden in GP2 have Red Bull branding this year. The F2 field this year has 5 drivers who have formerly competed in GP2 - few of whom big names, but still I expect Andy Soucek and Milos Pavlovic to be fighting for the championship. Whether they will a signifcant career boost for being in F2 or not, I'd be inclined to say no, at least from this year. Soucek may be able to get a Williams test drive next year, but that's probably about it
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 9, 2009 10:33:43 GMT 1
The problem with the British contingent in F2 is that none of them are very good. A lot of them are coming from Formula Palmer Audi, which isn't the same standard as World Series by Renault or GP2 where the real front-runners will be coming from. A lot of them are coming from the sperm of former drivers. Brundle, Surtees and Palmer for a start...Alex Brundle did surprise me with his speed, though, I would have thought Surtees would have been the most impressive based on results to date.
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Post by Panda on May 9, 2009 10:34:27 GMT 1
I think Wickens could go well. Julien Jousse was runner-up to Giedo van der Garde in WS Renault last year so he might be worth looking out for. Alex Brundle's been quick in testing (albeit at Snetterton)...
I wonder how Buemi's cousin will do...
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 10:55:08 GMT 1
Alex Brundle did surprise me in testing too. As well as the ones you mentioned, I expect Mirko Bortolotti to go well. He won the Italian F3 championship last year for which he won a Ferrari test a Fiorano and set the lap record!
My money's still on Soucek. There's no doubting his speed, but whether he can keep up a championship challenge at this level is still a question mark.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 10:57:27 GMT 1
By the way, has anyone been watching World Series by Renault this year on Eurosport? I caught the Spa round last weekend. Simon Hill is an awful commentator when he hasn't a clue what he's talking about.
Bring back Martin Havern. He's endearingly rubbish
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on May 9, 2009 12:18:48 GMT 1
Alex Brundle's been quick in testing (albeit at Snetterton)... So that is who I've been hearing going round the track all winter.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on May 9, 2009 12:50:42 GMT 1
My money's still on Soucek. Well, at least that's SOME money for Soucek, he seems to have a record of falling out with teams over finance.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on May 9, 2009 12:57:50 GMT 1
My money's still on Soucek. Well, at least that's SOME money for Soucek, he seems to have a record of falling out with teams over finance. Heh! True. But that's exactly why he's in F2. The way DPR and FMS treated him last year was awful
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Post by paulgilb on May 9, 2009 22:29:06 GMT 1
Results from Barcelona feature race:
1. Romain Grosjean Barwa Campos Team 2. Vitaly Petrov Barwa Campos Team 3. Jérôme d’Ambrosio DAMS 4. Luca Filippi Super Nova Racing 5. Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 6. Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 7 Giedo van der Garde iSport International 8. Kamui Kobayashi DAMS 9. Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix 10. Javier Villa Super Nova Racing 11. Diego Nunes iSport International 12. Nelson Panciatici Durango 13. Michael Herck DPR 14. Sergio Perez Telmex Arden International 15. Alberto Valerio Piquet GP 16. Luiz Razia FMSI 17. Davide Rigon Trident Racing Fastest lap time: Romain Grosjean (Barwa Campos Team) – 1:31.070 on lap 5
Not Classified Lucas di Grassi Fat Burner Racing Eng. Alvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology Dani Clos Fat Burner Racing Eng. Karun Chandhok Ocean Racing Technology Roldan Rodriguez Piquet GP Davide Valsecchi Durango Ricardo Teixeira Trident Racing Andreas Zuber FMSI Giacomo Ricci DPR
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on May 10, 2009 11:11:37 GMT 1
I hate how this has gone to Setanta . This may be the only way I keep up to date with the series.
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Post by Panda on May 10, 2009 19:28:13 GMT 1
Would anyone have any objections to his thread becoming a general (non-F1) motorsport thread?
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