GP2 Series

Not to be confused with FIA Formula Two Championship or Formula Two.
GP2 Series
Category Single seaters
Country International
Inaugural season 2005
Drivers 26
Teams 13
Constructors Dallara
Engine suppliers Mecachrome
Tyre suppliers Pirelli
Drivers' champion Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne
Teams' champion France ART Grand Prix
Official website gp2series.com
Current season

The GP2 Series, GP2 for short, is a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore,[1] while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1.[2] In 2010 the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series.[3]

Designed to make racing affordable for the teams and to make it the perfect training ground for life in Formula One, GP2 has made it mandatory for all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tyre supplier so that true driver ability is reflected. All but three races have taken place as support races at Formula One race weekends to boost the series' profile, to give drivers experience of the Grand Prix environment, and to take advantage of the infrastructure (marshals, medical facilities etc.) in place for a Formula One event. GP2 mainly races on European circuits, but has appearances on other international race tracks as well with their most recent races in the 2012 season at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia and the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore.

Many drivers have used GP2 as a stepping stone into Formula One. The 2005 Champion Nico Rosberg was hired by the Williams team for the 2006 F1 campaign, 2006 GP2 winner Lewis Hamilton made the transition to F1 the following year with McLaren and the 2007 Champion Timo Glock to Toyota for the 2008 F1 season. 2009 GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg moved up to a Williams F1 race driver in the 2010 Formula 1 season. In addition, all runners up —Heikki Kovalainen (2005), Nelson Piquet, Jr. (2006) and Lucas di Grassi (2007)— became Renault test drivers the following year. All three earned F1 seats, but have since been replaced.

Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov were also granted an F1 seat in 2010. For 2011 Pastor Maldonado was granted the hot seat at Williams. This meant that Nico Hülkenberg was deposed by Williams. Sergio Pérez was given the drive alongside Kamui Kobayashi, another former GP2 driver and GP2 Asia Series winner, at Sauber. Jérôme d'Ambrosio got his Virgin Racing drive for the 2011 season. However, some drivers have reached Formula One without competing in GP2, for example Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne, Valtteri Bottas, and Kevin Magnussen.

During 2011, it was announced that in 2012 the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series would combine to make a single, longer GP2 series.

GP2 Series cars

The GP2 Series car is used by all of the teams, and features a Dallara carbon-fiber monocoque chassis powered by a Mecachrome normally-aspirated fuel-injected V8 engine and Pirelli dry slick and rain treaded tyres. Overall weight is 688 kg including driver.

Chassis
The 2011 specification GP2 Car has been designed by Dallara Automobili. The 2006 GP2 car featured a biplane rear wing, with the triplane rear wing used in previous seasons only to be used at the Monaco race. The front upper and lower wishbones have been reinforced, as have the front and rear suspension uprights. Currently, Dallara GP2/11 are the current chassis since debut in 2011 and will be used until 2016. The price of Dallara GP2/11 GP2 Series cars are approximately €250,000 per car.
Engine
The 4.0-litre normally-aspirated electronic indirect fuel-injected Mecachrome V8 engine features internal, cartographic and software upgrades designed to improve performance and fuel consumption. The engine produces 620 hp and 500 Nm (398 ft-lb) of torque @ 8000 rpm. GP2 Series engines are rev-limited to 10000 rpm and need a rebuild after 4000 to 4500 km. The valve train is a dual overhead camshaft configuration with four valves per cylinder. The Mecachrome V8 engine weight is 326 lb (148 kg). The crankshaft is made of alloy steel, with five main bearing caps. The pistons are forged aluminum alloy, while the connecting rods are machined alloy steel. The electronic engine management system is supplied by Magneti Marelli, firing a high-power inductive (coil-controlled) ignition system. The engine lubrication is a dry sump type, cooled by a single water pump. Current GP2 Series engine formula specifications had been used since 2005 has been expected to use the current engine formula until 2016 season with the new engine regulations called Mecachrome V6 turbocharged engine will be introduced in 2017 along with new Dallara GP2/17 chassis.
Fuel and lubricants components
Since 2011, Total exclusively providing fuel and lubricants (except Pertamina Fastron lubricant with Rio Haryanto) for all GP2 Series cars.
Gearbox
The current gearbox has been manufactured by Hewland and features an 8-position barrel with ratchet body and software upgrades as well as a new transverse shafts fixing system designed to facilitate improved gear selection. Currently, GP2 Series gearbox uses 6-speed semi-automatic configuration with electronically-controlled paddle shifters.
Wheel rims
O.Z. Racing exclusively supplying wheel rims for all GP2 Series cars.
Tyres
Similar to the 2011 change for Formula 1, Pirelli is now the sole tyre supplier for the series. The GP2 series runs the same compounds as F1. The front tyre size are 245/660 - R13 and rear tyre size are 325/660 - R13.
Other parts
Brembo is supplying monobloc brake calipers and disc bells, which are exclusive to GP2. Hitco is also supplying carbon brake discs and pads for GP2 Series. The brake discs are 278 x 28 mm in size (similar to Formula One).
The car also features internal cooling upgrades, a new water radiator, radiator duct, oil/water heat exchanger, modified oil degasser, new oil and water pipes and new heat exchanger fixing brackets.
Performance
According to research and pre-season stability tests, the 2005 model can go 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 6.7 seconds. The car has a top speed of 320 km/h (198 mph) meaning that it is the fastest single seater racing car behind Formula One and IndyCar Series.
The 2011 model can go 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 6.6 seconds. The car has a top speed of 332 km/h (208 mph) with the Monza aero configuration.

Race weekend

On Friday, drivers have a 45-minute[4] 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 kilometres (112 miles).

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 kilometres (75 miles). 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.

Point system

2005–2011
Point system for race 1
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Point system for race 2
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
6 5 4 3 2 1

With this points system, the most number of points anyone can score in one round is 20 by claiming pole position, winning both races with the fastest lap in each race. This feat has only been achieved twice in GP2 racing's short history. By Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the 9th round of the 2006 season in Hungary and by German Nico Hülkenberg in the 5th round of the 2009 season in Germany.

2012 onwards

From the 2012 season the GP2 series changed its scoring system.[5] Feature races will be run with a scoring system similar to the one used in Formula One:

Point system for race 1
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

The top eight finishers in a sprint race receive points as follows:

Point system for race 2
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

Pole position for the feature race will now be worth 4 points, and 2 points will be given for the fastest lap in each race. Therefore, the maximum number of points a driver can score at any round will be 48.

Champions

Season Champion Second Third Team Champion
2005 Germany Nico Rosberg (ART Grand Prix) Finland Heikki Kovalainen (Arden International) United States Scott Speed (iSport International) France ART Grand Prix
2006 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton (ART Grand Prix) Brazil Nelson Piquet, Jr. (Piquet Sports) France Alexandre Prémat (ART Grand Prix) France ART Grand Prix
2007 Germany Timo Glock (iSport International) Brazil Lucas di Grassi (ART Grand Prix) Italy Giorgio Pantano (Campos Grand Prix) United Kingdom iSport International
2008 Italy Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) Brazil Bruno Senna (iSport International) Brazil Lucas di Grassi (Barwa Int. Campos Team) Spain Barwa International Campos Team
2009 Germany Nico Hülkenberg (ART Grand Prix) Russia Vitaly Petrov (Barwa Addax Team) Brazil Lucas di Grassi (Fat Burner Racing Engineering) France ART Grand Prix
2010 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) Mexico Sergio Pérez (Barwa Addax Team) France Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix) Italy Rapax
2011 France Romain Grosjean (DAMS) Italy Luca Filippi (Super Nova/Scuderia Coloni) France Jules Bianchi (Lotus ART) Spain Barwa Addax Team
2012 Italy Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) Brazil Luiz Razia (Arden International) Mexico Esteban Gutiérrez (Lotus GP) France DAMS
2013 Switzerland Fabio Leimer (Racing Engineering) United Kingdom Sam Bird (Russian Time) United Kingdom James Calado (ART Grand Prix) Russia Russian Time
2014 United Kingdom Jolyon Palmer (DAMS) Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix) Brazil Felipe Nasr (Carlin) France DAMS
2015 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne (ART Grand Prix) United States Alexander Rossi (Racing Engineering) Russia Sergey Sirotkin (Rapax) France ART Grand Prix

Drivers graduated to F1

At the end of the 2015 Formula One season 26 out of 166 drivers have raced in Formula One (15.6%).

Driver GP2 F1 Other major titles after GP2
Seasons Races Wins Podiums Seasons First team Races Wins Poles Podiums
France Bianchi, JulesJules Bianchi 2010–2011 38 1 10 2013–2014 Marussia 34 0 0 0
Switzerland Buemi, SébastienSébastien Buemi 2007–2008 31 2 5 2009–2011 Toro Rosso 55 0 0 0 FIA WEC (2014)
India Chandhok, KarunKarun Chandhok 2007–2009 61 2 5 2010–2011 HRT 11 0 0 0
United Kingdom Chilton, MaxMax Chilton 2010–2012 62 2 4 2013–2014 Marussia 35 0 0 0
Belgium d'Ambrosio, JérômeJérôme d'Ambrosio 2008–2010 58 1 7 2011–2012 Virgin 20 0 0 0
Brazil di Grassi, LucasLucas di Grassi 2006–2009 75 5 21 2010 Virgin 19 0 0 0
Sweden Ericsson, MarcusMarcus Ericsson 2010–2013 84 3 13 2014–present Caterham 35 0 0 0
Germany Glock, TimoTimo Glock 2006–2007 42 7 15 2004, 2008–2012 Jordan 91 0 0 3
France Grosjean, RomainRomain Grosjean† 2008–2011 54 9 21 2009, 2012–present Renault 83 0 0 10 GP2 Asia Series (2008, 2011), Auto GP (2010)
Mexico Gutiérrez, EstebanEsteban Gutiérrez 2011–2012 41 4 9 2013–2014 Sauber 38 0 0 0
United Kingdom Hamilton, LewisLewis Hamilton 2006 21 5 14 2007–present McLaren 167 43 49 87 Formula One (2008, 2014, 2015)
Germany Hülkenberg, NicoNico Hülkenberg 2009 21 5 10 2010, 2012–present Williams 95 0 1 0 24 Hours of Le Mans (2015)
Japan Kobayashi, KamuiKamui Kobayashi† 2008–2009 40 1 2 2009–2012, 2014 Toyota 76 0 0 1 GP2 Asia (2008–09)
Finland Kovalainen, HeikkiHeikki Kovalainen 2005 23 5 12 2007–2013 Renault 112 1 1 4
Venezuela Maldonado, PastorPastor Maldonado 2007–2010 73 10 18 2011–present Williams 96 1 1 1
Japan Nakajima, KazukiKazuki Nakajima† 2007 21 0 6 2007–2009 Williams 36 0 0 0 Formula Nippon (2012), Super Formula (2014)
Brazil Nasr, FelipeFelipe Nasr 2012–2014 68 4 20 2015–present Sauber 19 0 0 0
Mexico Pérez, SergioSergio Pérez 2009–2010 40 5 9 2011–present Sauber 96 0 0 5
Russia Petrov, VitalyVitaly Petrov 2006–2009 69 4 11 2010–2012 Renault 57 0 0 1
France Pic, CharlesCharles Pic 2010–2011 38 3 8 2012–2013 Marussia 39 0 0 0
Brazil Piquet, Jr., NelsonNelson Piquet, Jr. 2005–2006 44 5 13 2008–2009 Renault 28 0 0 1 Formula E (2014-15)
Germany Rosberg, NicoNico Rosberg 2005 23 5 12 2006–present Williams 185 14 22 41
United States Rossi, AlexanderAlexander Rossi† 2013-2015 48 4 11 2015–present Manor 5 0 0 0
Brazil Senna, BrunoBruno Senna 2007–2008 41 3 9 2010–2012 HRT 46 0 0 0
United States Speed, ScottScott Speed 2005 23 0 5 2006–2007 Toro Rosso 28 0 0 0
Netherlands van der Garde, GiedoGiedo van der Garde 2009–2012 82 5 17 2013 Caterham 19 0 0 0
Japan Yamamoto, SakonSakon Yamamoto 2007–2008 21 0 1 2006, 2007, 2010 Spyker 21 0 0 0

Notes:

Seasons

2005

The 2005 Season was the first of the series, it succeeding the now defunct Formula 3000 championship. Arden International won the last F3000 titles, thus starting as one of the favourites.

The 2005 season began on April 23, 2005 on the weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. In the pre-season test to decide the inaugural season's car numbers, the iSport International and HiTech/Piquet Racing teams showed a competitive edge. The latter team was largely funded by the former Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet in order to aid his son's route to the premier Formula sport.

The championship lasted 23 rounds, two races occurring a weekend with the exception of a single race in Monaco. It was won by German Nico Rosberg, who was subsequently hired by the WilliamsF1 Team.

It was also notable for being the only season that GP2 used grooved tyres like F1 cars rather than slicks.

2006

The 2006 Season was the second of the series. After championship holder Nico Rosberg's move to the WilliamsF1 team, and runner-up Heikki Kovalainen's move to be reserve driver at Renault F1, Nelson Piquet, Jr. in the Piquet Sports car was installed as the early title favourite, though the ART Grand Prix cars of Alexandre Prémat and Lewis Hamilton also had fairly short odds, given ART were reigning champions.

For the first time, the season began on a calendar separate to the 2006 Formula One calendar, starting out at the Circuit de Valencia, in Valencia, Spain on April 8, 2006 with Piquet, Jr. the first victor.

Piquet raced into an early lead, before Lewis Hamilton came back into the fray. A dominant run by the Briton took him into the championship lead, before the balance came back into Piquet Jr.'s favour.

After an exciting championship battle lasting 20 races, Hamilton claimed the title in the penultimate race, at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, in Monza, Italy, and celebrated with a second place in the 21st and final round.

2007

The 2007 GP2 Series season began on 13 April at the Bahrain International Circuit, and completed on 30 September at the Circuit de Valencia (which was the only race that wasn't on the F1 calendar). Eventual champion Timo Glock was a driving force throughout the series, but came under stiff competition from Lucas di Grassi in the closing stages- however, with a convincing win at the last race in Valencia, Glock sealed the championship.

2008

The 2008 GP2 Series season featured the same teams as in previous seasons.[6] This was also the first time that the calendar supported all of the F1 races with a late deal to run at the Valencia Street Circuit.[7] It was the first season to feature a new car design from Dallara, the GP2/08, the only non-F1 car to pass the 2007 FIA crash test in full.[8] In the United Kingdom, the 2008 GP2 Series season was exclusively aired on ITV4[9] from April 2008. It was won by Giorgio Pantano for Racing Engineering, with Bruno Senna finishing distant runner-up.

2009

The 2009 season began and ended on the Iberian peninsula, with the first race weekend at Circuit de Catalunya (9–10 May) and ending in the stand-alone headline event (i.e. not supporting a corresponding Formula One event) at Portugal's Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (19–20 September). The title was won by German rookie Nico Hülkenberg at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza, the second time the championship had been won before the last race.

2010

2010 season contained ten rounds, all of which were supporting F1 World Championship. The series started in May at Catalunya and concluded at Abu Dhabi in November.

Pastor Maldonado won the title in his fourth season in the series. He won a record-breaking six successive feature races mid-season. Sergio Pérez was his closest rival, but the title was sealed already in the penultimate round at Monza.

2011

2011 season contained nine rounds and a final tenth round with no points, all of which were supporting F1 World Championship. The series started in May at Istanbul and concluded at Abu Dhabi in November.

The championship was won by reigning GP2 Asia champion Romain Grosjean at the penultimate round of the series. Following a three-year cycle, the previous GP2 chassis was replaced by a brand new car, the GP2/11, built by Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara. The series will change tyre supplier from Bridgestone to Pirelli for 2011–13. The 2011 season saw the addition of two new teams to the grid, Carlin and Team AirAsia. Meanwhile, DPR was not selected to continue in the series.

2012

The 2012 season contained twelve rounds, eleven of which supported the F1 World Championship and one stand alone round in Bahrain. The series started on March 24 in Malaysia and concluded in Singapore on September 23. Davide Valsecchi (DAMS) won the title by 25 points from Arden's Luiz Razia, with Lotus GP's Esteban Gutierrez third.

For the 2012 season, Team Lazarus replaced Super Nova Racing using the name "Venezuela GP Lazarus". Lotus ART was renamed "Lotus Grand Prix", reflecting their increased relationship with title sponsor 'Lotus Cars'.

2013

The 2013 season contained eleven rounds, all of which supported the F1 World Championship. The series started on March 23 in Malaysia and concluded in Abu Dhabi on November 3.

Fabio Leimer won the title driving for Racing Engineering, with a total of 201 points and 3 wins. Sam Bird, driving for Russian Time, finished runner up.

2014

The 2014 season contained eleven rounds, all of which supported the F1 World Championship. The series started on April 5 in Bahrain and concluded in Abu Dhabi on November 23.

Jolyon Palmer won the title in Sochi driving for DAMS. Stoffel Vandoorne, driving for ART Grand Prix, finished runner up in Abu Dhabi.

2015

The 2015 season contained eleven rounds, supporting the F1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Bahrain. It started in Bahrain on 18 April and finished in Abu Dhabi on 29 November.

Stoffel Vandoorne won the title in Sochi driving for ART Grand Prix. Alexander Rossi, driving for Racing Engineering, finished runner-up.

Television rights

The television rights are held by the Formula One Management, which also manages the rights to Formula One. In the UK, races were being shown on Setanta Sports until the channel ceased broadcasting in June 2009.[10] Setanta took up coverage of the series from ITV, who had shown GP2 in all four seasons to date (highlights only for 2005–2007, live coverage for 2008). However, by the German GP, Setanta GB had gone into administration so UK viewers could have been left without a GP2 broadcaster, but British Eurosport subsequently picked up the UK rights to GP2 for the next two and a half years.[11] Setanta Ireland continues to operate for the Irish market and retain GP2 rights for that country. The races are also broadcast in the United States on Comcast's NBC Sports Network, while in Brazil its broadcast by cable TV channel SportTV, in Venezuela are broadcast by MeridianoTV; in the rest of Latin America, the races from 2012 are shown on delayed in South Cone and live in North Cone on Fox Sports +. About other European countries: In Spain, races are broadcast by MarcaTV, Antena 3 and TV3. In Germany PayTV Channel Sky broadcast all races Live and in Finland Pay-TV-channel MTV3 MAX broadcasts all races and qualifying live. RAI broadcasts only the races. In February 2012, it was announced that Sky Sports F1 had secured the broadcasting rights to the GP2 series and will broadcast every race live in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Spurgeon, Brad (2005-06-01). "Formula One experiments with its minor league". The International Herald Tribune. p. 22.
  2. ↑ http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns15388.html grandprix.com August 11, 2005
  3. ↑ http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71098 autosport.com October 3, 2008
  4. ↑ http://www.gp2series.com/Guide-to/The-regulations/
  5. ↑ "GP2 adopts Formula 1-like tyre rules for 2012". autosport.com. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  6. ↑ "Current teams confirmed for 2008". Autosport.com. 2007-10-19.
  7. ↑ "New Valencia track secures GP2 race". Autosport.com. 2008-04-18.
  8. ↑ "New car passes F1 crash tests". Autosport.com. 2007-10-05.
  9. ↑ "Teams and Drivers". itv.com. 2008-03-26.
  10. ↑ Maher, Dave (2009-05-01). "GP2, FIA GT, DTM and SF on Setanta". setanta.com (Setanta Sports). Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  11. ↑ http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/08072009/58/british-eurosport-secures-gp2.html
  12. ↑ "Sky Sports to show GP2 & GP3". Sky Sports. 2 February 2012.

External links

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Awards
Preceded by
SAFER barrier		 Autosport
Pioneering and Innovation Award
2005 		Succeeded by
Audi R10
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