GP2 Asia Series

The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series.

GP2 Asia Series
CategoryFormula cars
RegionAsia
Inaugural season2008
Folded2011
Drivers34
Teams13
ConstructorsDallara
Engine suppliersMecachrome
Tyre suppliersPirelli
Last Drivers' championFrance Romain Grosjean
Last Teams' championFrance DAMS
Official websitegp2series.com
Christian Bakkerud driving for Super Nova during the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season.

The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix.[1] GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel commented that "It is of great importance that the GP2 Asia Series maintains a strong and viable link to Formula One. Our inclusion as the support races on the programme of Asian Grands Prix in 2008 is an essential key in this new venture".[1]

The first season ran during the main GP2 series off season, January–April, with five two-race meetings. It ran alongside the new Speedcar Series,[2] and the events in Malaysia and Bahrain acted as support races for the Formula One championship.

In effort to promote motor racing in Asia, each team is encouraged to have at least one driver whose passport does not come from Western Europe or the Americas (North and South). For the avoidance of doubt, Turkey and Russia are not included in the list of "European" countries.

However, in the 2008 season, four of the thirteen teams opted to field two non-Asian drivers with the agreement that one of their two drivers would be a "ghost driver" and receive no prize money for competing in the series.

In 2011, GP2 CEO Bruno Michel announced that the GP2 Asia Series would be merged with the European series after the 2011 season.[3]

Point system
  • Pole for Saturday races: 2 points
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
  • Fastest lap: 1 point in each race. Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps. The driver must also start the race from his allocated grid position and finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap point.

With this points system, the most points anyone can score in one round is 20 by claiming pole position, winning both races with the fastest lap in each race.

Champions
Season Champion Second Third Team Champion
2008 France Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Russia Vitaly Petrov France ART Grand Prix
2008–09 Japan Kamui Kobayashi (DAMS) Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Spain Roldán Rodríguez France DAMS
2009–10 Italy Davide Valsecchi (iSport International) Italy Luca Filippi Italy Giacomo Ricci United Kingdom iSport International
2011 France Romain Grosjean (DAMS) France Jules Bianchi Netherlands Giedo van der Garde France DAMS

See also

References
  1. Bradley, Charles (2007-05-24). "GP2 confirms Asian series for 2008". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  2. Speedcar Series | News Archived 2007-07-02 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Collantine, Keith (2011-07-12). "GP2 to drop Asia Series in 2012". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to GP2 Asia Series.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.