2016 GP2 silly season thread - Page 7

LavidaLoca · 6 Feb 2016, 09:39 (Ref:3612319)

Simon Trummer was also confirmed at ByKolles in FIA WEC

skells22 · 6 Feb 2016, 11:10 (Ref:3612335)

now this could get a bit messy WHEN GP2 says its race dates forcing Le Mans teams to change drivers if the Baku race is said about. so if i was Le Mans teams I ask GP2 to release the dates

LavidaLoca · 6 Feb 2016, 12:35 (Ref:3612353)

Quote:

Originally Posted by skells22

now this could get a bit messy WHEN GP2 says its race dates forcing Le Mans teams to change drivers if the Baku race is said about. so if i was Le Mans teams I ask GP2 to release the dates

this concerns just a few GP2 drivers (Stanaway,...) , so hard to see it happening
I do not see Trummer running GP2 and WEC Anyway

p-matt · 6 Feb 2016, 20:21 (Ref:3612461)

I'm wondering if GP2 skips Azerbaijan and does Bahrain supporting WEC again. Maybe even Shanghai as well?

Hawkwood · 7 Feb 2016, 15:45 (Ref:3612792)

According to Motorsport .com, Ghiotto has secured a Trident seat.

Formulahistory · 7 Feb 2016, 16:56 (Ref:3612803)

ART: Sergey Sirotkin – Esteban Ocon (?)
Racing Engineering: Jordan King – Norman Nato
DAMS: Alex Lynn – Nicholas Latifi
Campos: Mitch Evans – Sean Gelael
Russian Time: Artem Markelov – Raffaele Marciello
Rapax: Arthur Pic – André Negrão (?)
Trident: Luca Ghiotto – Philo Paz Armand (?)
Status: Marlon Stöckinger (?) – Nick Cassidy (?)
Carlin: Dean Stoneman (?) – Richie Stanaway (?)
MP: Oliver Rowland – Daniël de Jong (?)
Arden: Emil Bernstorff (?) – Jimmy Eriksson (?)
Hilmer: Nick Yelloly (?) – Simon Trummer (?)
Prema Power: Antonio Giovinazzi – Pierre Gasly

GM10 · 7 Feb 2016, 19:10 (Ref:3612828)

Very good. Trident has given Luca an opportunity, I'm really curious to see him this year

Mekola · 8 Feb 2016, 00:21 (Ref:3612909)

GP2 should change some of its rules. Even allow former F1 drivers to be in its ranks. IMHO.

Formulahistory · 8 Feb 2016, 12:20 (Ref:3613061)

We had some before: Pizzonia, Pantano, Bruni.

Hawkwood · 8 Feb 2016, 18:43 (Ref:3613151)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekola

GP2 should change some of its rules. Even allow former F1 drivers to be in its ranks. IMHO.

Not a good idea in my opinion.
There's already a log-jam of drivers hanging around in GP2 for years, no need to make that problem worse by adding F1 rejects into the mix.

Ex-F1 drivers have plenty of different options if they want to carry on racing.

S griffin · 8 Feb 2016, 21:30 (Ref:3613198)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekola

GP2 should change some of its rules. Even allow former F1 drivers to be in its ranks. IMHO.

What make GP2 the new F5000? :P

slipstream16 · 9 Feb 2016, 10:49 (Ref:3613335)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

ART: Sergey Sirotkin – Esteban Ocon (?)
Racing Engineering: Jordan King – Norman Nato
DAMS: Alex Lynn – Nicholas Latifi
Campos: Mitch Evans – Sean Gelael
Russian Time: Artem Markelov – Raffaele Marciello
Rapax: Arthur Pic – André Negrão (?)
Trident: Luca Ghiotto – Philo Paz Armand (?)
Status: Marlon Stöckinger (?) – Nick Cassidy (?)
Carlin: Dean Stoneman (?) – Richie Stanaway (?)
MP: Oliver Rowland – Daniël de Jong (?)
Arden: Emil Bernstorff (?) – Jimmy Eriksson (?)
Hilmer: Nick Yelloly (?) – Simon Trummer (?)
Prema Power: Antonio Giovinazzi – Pierre Gasly

Why Philo Paz at Trident? Didn't he test with Status for 3 days? And Cassidy to GP2 with no money? Interesting...

motormouth_33 · 9 Feb 2016, 13:14 (Ref:3613356)

Quote:

Originally Posted by slipstream16

Why Philo Paz at Trident? Didn't he test with Status for 3 days? And Cassidy to GP2 with no money? Interesting...

Cassidy's not going to happen (at least I wouldn't have thought so) given he's got a Toyota GT drive and a seat with Prema in European F3
Paz Armand was hardly one to set the world alight in FR 3.5 last season either, so I'd be surprised to see him step up - not sure whether there's a financial incentive there or not - but there's plenty more capable drivers out there.
Here's what I think (although a lot of these are educated guesses):

ART - Matsushita and Sirotkin
Racing Engineering - Nato and King
DAMS - Lynn and Latifi
Campos Racing - Evans and Gelael
Russian Time - Marciello and Markelov
Rapax - Negrao and Pic
Trident - Malja and Ghiotto
Status Grand Prix - Stockinger and Yelloly
Carlin - Stoneman and Mardenborough
Prema Racing - Giovinazzi and Gasly
Arden International - Visoiu and Eriksson
MP Motorsport - Rowland and De Jong

If Hilmer do get out this year, I'd go with Binder and maybe someone like Niederhauser alongside him, but as they seem to have been removed from every entry list I've seen, I'm not holding my breath...

Formulahistory · 9 Feb 2016, 13:20 (Ref:3613358)

Quote:

Originally Posted by slipstream16

Why Philo Paz at Trident? Didn't he test with Status for 3 days? And Cassidy to GP2 with no money? Interesting...

I heard that Armand had bought a Trident seat...

**chunterer** · 10 Feb 2016, 16:15 (Ref:3613685)

I don't think Mardenborough will be in GP2, at least not a full season and I don't see Stoneman getting a drive unless Red Bull continue to support him or he can find some money elsewhere?

So far with one or two exceptions it's not looking like a classic year in store driver wise.

p-matt · 10 Feb 2016, 19:25 (Ref:3613766)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

I don't think Mardenborough will be in GP2, at least not a full season and I don't see Stoneman getting a drive unless Red Bull continue to support him or he can find some money elsewhere?

So far with one or two exceptions it's not looking like a classic year in store driver wise.

Eh? It's arguably already the strongest GP2 grid since the early years? Besides Ocon, I don't see any big names at this level missing.

I don't understand how you can defend 3.5's grid which is seriously lacking depth yet say the GP2 grid is weak.

motormouth_33 · 10 Feb 2016, 20:04 (Ref:3613786)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

I don't think Mardenborough will be in GP2, at least not a full season and I don't see Stoneman getting a drive unless Red Bull continue to support him or he can find some money elsewhere?

So far with one or two exceptions it's not looking like a classic year in store driver wise.

Perhaps, but it's not as if Mardenborough has his sports car commitments now that the Nissan LMP1 project has been canned, and does he really have anything to prove by staying in GP3? I'm not sure about that...
However I admit now that Stoneman's been dropped by Red Bull, the chance of a GP2 seat does reduce a fair bit, but they both have connections with the team, and who else is likely to go there? Giovinazzi was my initial guess given his Euro F3 link, but the Prema deal shot that down

10TENTHS · 10 Feb 2016, 22:41 (Ref:3613824)

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-matt

Eh? It's arguably already the strongest GP2 grid since the early years? Besides Ocon, I don't see any big names at this level missing.

Well there's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Kirchh%C3%B6fer and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Bernstorff . De Vries is apparently headed for GP3 instead.

**chunterer** · 10 Feb 2016, 23:10 (Ref:3613836)

Quote:

Originally Posted by p-matt

Eh? It's arguably already the strongest GP2 grid since the early years? Besides Ocon, I don't see any big names at this level missing.

I don't understand how you can defend 3.5's grid which is seriously lacking depth yet say the GP2 grid is weak.

Arguably the strongest line up since the early years?! What exactly do you base that generalisation on matt?!

I do not defend any series, I call things as I see it either comparitively or on the overall quality or quantity of talent.

Other than Vandoorne, 3.5 generally had the better talent at the front of the grids than GP2 in the last few years.

Believe me I'd absolutely love GP2 to get back to its peak potential as for me it was the best series going for a few years, globally. Full stop.

But its quite clear that other than Rowland who is probably an ace in the making (but with limiting budget) and a handful of year 2 guys like Lynn, maybe Sirotkin, the field is going to be full of bloody journeymen which is not what the main feeder to F1 should have to cater for driver wise.

3.5 isn't going to be strong this year either but if it can get a fullish grid that's decent enough for its first year in its new guise.

skells22 · 11 Feb 2016, 15:34 (Ref:3613981)

De Jong has joined MP for this years championship.

still no sign of the missing GP2 dates for this year as i asked if there was a time frame and the answer was a "not yet".

skells22 · 12 Feb 2016, 08:33 (Ref:3614143)

another driver said about. this time its ART and the driver is Matsushita for this team.

Formulahistory · 12 Feb 2016, 12:36 (Ref:3614183)

ART: Sergey Sirotkin – Nobuharu Matsushita
Racing Engineering: Jordan King – Norman Nato
DAMS: Alex Lynn – Nicholas Latifi
Campos: Mitch Evans – Sean Gelael
Russian Time: Artem Markelov – Raffaele Marciello
Rapax: Arthur Pic – André Negrão (?)
Trident: Luca Ghiotto – Philo Paz Armand (?)
Status: Richie Stanaway (?) – Marlon Stöckinger (?)
Carlin: Dean Stoneman (?) – Jann Mardenborough (?)
MP: Oliver Rowland – Daniël de Jong
Arden: Emil Bernstorff (?) – Jimmy Eriksson (?)
Hilmer: Nick Yelloly (?) – Simon Trummer (?)
Prema Power: Antonio Giovinazzi – Pierre Gasly

**chunterer** · 12 Feb 2016, 17:03 (Ref:3614249)

Philo Paz Armand joins Ghiotto at Trident.

**chunterer** · 12 Feb 2016, 17:05 (Ref:3614250)

Quote:

Originally Posted by skells22

another driver said about. this time its ART and the driver is Matsushita for this team.

He seems a quality driver. Could he go one better than Kobayashi's GP2 Asian title by winning the main trophy?

Formulahistory · 13 Feb 2016, 15:21 (Ref:3614410)

ART: Sergey Sirotkin – Nobuharu Matsushita
Racing Engineering: Jordan King – Norman Nato
DAMS: Alex Lynn – Nicholas Latifi
Campos: Mitch Evans – Sean Gelael
Russian Time: Artem Markelov – Raffaele Marciello
Rapax: Arthur Pic – André Negrão (?)
Trident: Luca Ghiotto – Philo Paz Armand
Status: Richie Stanaway (?) – Marlon Stöckinger (?)
Carlin: Dean Stoneman (?) – Jann Mardenborough (?)
MP: Oliver Rowland – Daniël de Jong
Arden: Emil Bernstorff (?) – Jimmy Eriksson (?)
Prema Power: Antonio Giovinazzi – Pierre Gasly

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