Formula 2 GP2 2016 Championship

[Il_leone]

Current entry list into this season's GP2 championship

2016 GP2 Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are still two seats available at Carlin who did not have a great campaign last season

British interest in the form of Alex Lynn as one of the pre -season favourites who has one eye on potential Williams seat for 2017 and Jordan King who raced alongside Alexander Rossi last season who finished 2nd

A 3rd Brit to watch out for is Oliver Rowland who dominated 3.5 WSR and is part of the Renault young driver's program but is racing for the Dutch Team MP Motorsport alongside stalwart Daniel De Jong who have a poor record in GP2.

So we may end up seeing 3 new British drivers on the F1 grid

They will be up against Nobu Mastsushita who will race for championship winning team ART and the Mclaren Development driver.

Other contenders Raffaele Marciello whose career appears in the balance having been dropped by Sauber and left the Ferrari driver academy under a cloud

Sergey Sirotkin - remember him anyone ?

 

[FB]

Was it Olly Rowland who showed that you can overtake at Monaco last year in the WSR race? Quite an exciting driver, in the old fashioned sense.

 

[RasputinLives]

Olly Rowland is probably the class of the field to be honest but showing it in the MP motor sport car will be hard.

I think both Alex Lynn, Marchellio and Pierre Gasly have a lot to prove after below standard standard seasons last year but the one to watch out for is Sirotkin. He was best of the rookies last year and had a great run of for. Whilst he got caught up in all that Sauber nonsense it was because he was quick in karts. 5th year in cars and he has been getting better.

One I have my eye in though is Luca Ghitto who blew me away in GP3 last year in the unfancied Trident car. Let's see if he can do the same in his GP2 unfancied Trident car.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Always enjoy gp2 series sometimes give you better racing than the main event. I fancy mitch evans along with alex lynn & oliver Rowland to come of age & fight for the title this yr

 

[RasputinLives]

GP2 has announced its calender and won't be kicking off until May this year in Spain:

13-15 May: Barcelona, Spain
26-28 May: Monte Carlo, Monaco
17-19 June: Baku, Azerbajian
1-3 July: Spielberg, Austria
8-10 July: Silverstone, Great-Britain
22-24 July: Budapest, Hungary
29-31 July: Hockenheim, Germany
26-28 August: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
2-4 September: Monza, Italy
31 September - 2 October: Sepang, Malaysia
25-27 November: Yas Marina, UAE

Baku, Germany and Malaysia are now on the calender but the round in Russia has been dropped. To be honest a bit gutted thet Russian round has gone as the GP2 and GP3 races on that track were always packed with action.

 

[F1Brits_90]

thats annoying have gp2 starting 6 weeks later now

 

[RasputinLives]

Kirchhöfer graduates to GP2 with Carlin

Kirchhofer has stepped up to GP2. He's always been a front runner in every series he's been in and has already had two years getting used to the Pirreli tyres in GP3 so I expect to see him mixing in with the front runners at somepoint - As long as Carlin get a handle on the car of course.

 

[RasputinLives]

Gasly tops the times in testing. Gasly has always been quick and always been at the front but he has not won a race in any series since 2013

'1.Pierre Gasly PREMA Racing 1:27.386
2. Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1:27.630
3. Antonio Giovinazzi PREMA Racing 1:27.755
4. Alex Lynn DAMS 1:27.841
5. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:27.884
6. Danïel de Jong MP Motorsport 1:27.977
7. Mitch Evans Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:28.022
8. Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1:28.067
9. Jordan King Racing Engineering 1:28.122
10. Sergey Sirotkin ART Grand Prix 1:28.122
11. Arthur Pic Rapax 1:28.150
12. Rene Binder Carlin 1:28.240
13. Raffaele Marciello RUSSIAN TIME 1:28.296
14. Gustav Malja Carlin 1:28.335
15. Oliver Rowland MP Motorsport 1:28.421
16. Sergio Canamasas Status Grand Prix 1:28.491
17. Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1:28.599
18. Marvin Kirchhöfer Carlin 1:28.744
19. Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 1:28.871
20. Jimmy Eriksson Arden International 1:29.433
21. Philo Paz Armand Trident 1:29.450
22. Nabil Jeffri Arden International 1:29.662
23. Sean Gelael Jagonya Ayam Campos Racing 1:29.755
24. Meindert van Buuren Status Grand Prix 1:30.007'

Not sure these times mean much. Quite a few drivers there by fund rather than talent this year and who is the idiot who has decided to let Sergio Canamasas race a GP2 car again?

 

[RasputinLives]

With Status Grand Prix pulling out of the series we nearly ended up with no Canamasas on the gird.

Don't worry though he's done a late deal

Canamasas secures late Carlin deal

Thank goodness for that! Who would we have to drive into people and cause needless accidents otherwise?

 

[F1Brits_90]

Brilliant to have will Buxton back in the commentary box as a co commentor. But sirokin who made a silly but understandable mistake spinning it on exit of turn 2, changed the race because it forced front 2's hand. Gasly couldn't get the the tyre to work & had to go further than they were comfortable & nato was a shock to me because he got more in the opening round this weekend than he managed all season last yr

 

[F1Brits_90]

if you didnt watch the gp2 feature race, you have to watch it is Easily the best gp2 race ive seen ive been watching it now for 4 years so much drama right to the very end. & if we get a race half as good on sunday we'll be in for a treat

Spoiler

as i said such drama especially in the final 20 laps so many crashes sirotkin out of 2nd, king, ghiotto, eriksson, jeffri & latifi. oliver rowland comes harries nato for what we thought was the net lead but then biggest drama unfolded with 2 laps to go Markelov decided to stay out as long as he could with roll of the dice after starting 15th because of all the crashes & 5 virtual safety car periods, meant Marklelov couldnt pit until 2 laps to go & then VSC ended at swimming pool pitted straight away came out to retain the lead & sealing the biggest shock since oliver panis win 20 yrs ago, how on earth markelov gained nearly 30 secs under the VSC to retain lead instead of 5th/6th nobody knows

Feel for sirotkin as he could've been leading gp2 with 43 or 50pts with a 3rd in spain possible 5th in sprint race, then 1st/2nd today possible 6th tomorrow in sprint race instead after the spin & stall in catalunya, then sucked into taking too much speed exiting picince crashing out of 2nd, instead is on 0 pts after 2 rounds

 

[gethinceri]

Hmm, yes....gaining time under the safety car. Bad ju-ju.

 

[RasputinLives]

Brilliant race today. No penalty for Markalov so it must have been legit.

Have I mentioned how much I love to watch Oli Rowland race? Always exciting to watch in anything he races in. Would love to see an F1 team give him a go.

The season favourites for the title were Sirotkin, Lynn and Gasly. They've all be distinctly so far.

Also. Norman Nato leading the championship? Have I slipped into bizzaro world?

 

[F1Brits_90]

This where the controversial starts because someone got pic of start of vsc & end of vsc

 

[Il_leone]

Well has there been a formal protest?

RasputinLives

Sirotkin - he 's had 3 retirements in 4 races !!

Lynn has already won 1 race and put on a decent showing this weekend and is 3rd and 10pts behind in the series

Gasly - two poor races and when the hype has been around Verstappen he failed to remind his bosses that he deserves to be promoted

------------

Markelov and Nato surprise championship pace setters - does any F1 team want them?

Matsushita won so I guess he reminded Mclaren that he can actually race and win and wants to get into F1 as well

 

[RasputinLives]

Lynn is in a DAMS car which is class of the field really and I can't help but be a tad dissapointed in his results in first 4 races.

I'd love to see Markalov in F1 for the entertainment value alone but I doubt we'll see it. I Don't really rate Nato if I'm honest. 90% of the time he's just a bit blah. His results so far this year just show how good that Racing Engineering car is.......it also tells me Jordan King needs to pull his finger out.

I genuinely have no idea who is going to win the title this year.

 

[Il_leone]

Markalov is beating Marciello who is suppose to be really bitter that Ferrari sacked him and probably justified at the moment

Jordan King - is it because of his dad's or is he really that good ?

It is very open this season

 

[F1Brits_90]

what an absolute moron matushita is, needs banning for a race he caused a huge pile up & another SC period because he backed the pack for too long, was still backing them up after the SC line causing huge confusement because drivers knew they could accelerate but unsure if they could overtake the leader & then on the 2nd SC start he did it again. but then taken out by someone. cueing huge cheers & applause from the disgruntled drivers

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although on positive note for the 1st time since 2012 a driver (giovinazzi) has taken the double sprint/feature race double. joining the drivers Hamilton, Rosberg, Hulkenburg & Valsecchi

 

[Bleu]

what an absolute moron matushita is, needs banning for a race he caused a huge pile up & another SC period because he backed the pack for too long, was still backing them up after the SC line causing huge confusement because drivers knew they could accelerate but unsure if they could overtake the leader & then on the 2nd SC start he did it again. but then taken out by someone. cueing huge cheers & applause from the disgruntled drivers

Your request has been answered: Matsushita suspended for next event - GP2 Series

 

[RasputinLives]

Brilliant weekend of GP2 racing! Giovinazzi was quick in F3 last year but never expected him to be on this pace so quick in GP2.

Gasly cracked yet again, Lynn was nowhere and whilst Sirotkin got some good results this weekend he's messed up in the first 4 races. Those guys were supposed to be the title favourites but right now I Don't see it. I think this title could be anyone's!