Viso to FMS, Hernandez to RE & Ricard Testing News

[OJB]

Seems Pizzonia is definately out at FMSI and Viso has appeared in his place - wonder if this going to be a shootout though and there will be another driver in the car during the second test at Paul Ricard.

Sergio Hernandez in place of Sergio Jimenez is a bit more of a surprise though - plus Hernandez no longer drives with Proteam in WTCC, so maybe he quit last week knowing he was GP2 bound?

Henki Waldschmidt is in a DAMS car too but that's just till Nakajima gets back from USA.

[Adri_tifosi]

Hernandez in Racing Engineering ? I can´t understand nothing

[chunterer]

Yup and Viso set 9th best time today, but won't be happy to have been beaten by countryman Maldonado (4th)

Zuber Glock and Pantano led the way. Senna and Di Grassi a long way down.

[Russfeld]

Nakajima is testing at Silverstone for Williams

[Adri_tifosi]

Day 1

1. Andreas Zuber iSport International 1:18.295
2. Timo Glock iSport International 1:18.750
3. Giorgio Pantano Campos Grand Prix 1:18.889
4. Pastor Maldonado Trident Racing 1:18.934
5. Luca Filippi Super Nova International 1:18.973
6. Javier Villa Racing Engineering 1:19.027
7. Roldan Rodriguez Minardi Piquet Sports 1:19.154
8. Michael Ammermueller ART Grand Prix 1:19.159
9. Ernesto Viso FMS International 1:19.387
10. Borja Garcia Durango 1:19.417
11. Adrian Zaugg Arden International 1:19.486
12. Kohei Hirate Trident Racing 1:19.601
13. Nicolas Lapierre DAMS 1:19.630
14. Karun Chandhok Durango 1:19.698
15. Vitaly Petrov Campos Grand Prix 1:19.723
16. Bruno Senna Arden International 1:19.814
17. Lucas Di Grassi ART Grand Prix 1:19.829
18. Andy Soucek DPR 1:19.876
19. Jason Tahinci FMS International 1:19.911
20. Sergio Hernandez Racing Engineering 1:19.913
21. Sakon Yamamoto BCN Competicion 1:19.938
22. Alexandre Negrao Minardi Piquet Sports 1:20.000
23. Henki Waldschmidt DAMS 1:20.098
24. Ho Pin Tung BCN Competicion 1:20.261
25. Christian Bakkerud DPR 1:20.456
26. Mike Conway Super Nova International 1:21.390

[Alex K]

Originally Posted by OJB

plus Hernandez no longer drives with Proteam in WTCC, so maybe he quit last week knowing he was GP2 bound?

Doesn't make sense to me unless he was shown the door or his wallet dried up. If he's done it, because it was chance to revive his s-s career, than I say this wasn't wise move.

[Mekola]

Shame that López can't be in the Ricard test due to the veto of current BCN drivers (!!!) It a real shame even for both Yamamoto and Tung; López could have helped them doing good set-ups for their cars, in order to approach better results for the team...

[strider]

There's a Q & A with Bruno Senna here. It sounds as though they are not looking for times in the test so much as trying to develop the car.

I imagine Mike Conway is wondering when the nightmare will end after shunting his car substantially yesterday morning.

[Chewie-1990]

Hernandez still does the LMS too with the GPC Ferrari, that would clash with Magny-Cours and Spa-Francorchamps, he's gonna have to choose between a possible back-of-grid effort in GP2 or championship contending run in LMS, he can't really do both

[strider]

Today's times from Paul Ricard:

Morning session:

Pos  Driver                Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Andreas Zuber         iSport International      1:17.385   35
 2.  Luca Filippi          Super Nova International  1:17.962   45
 3.  Ernesto Viso          FMS international         1:18.147   30
 4.  Javier Villa          Racing Engineering        1:18.225   29
 5.  Lucas Di Grassi       ART Grand Prix            1:18.255   27
 6.  Pastor Maldonado      Trident Racing            1:18.266   45
 7.  Michael Ammermueller  ART Grand Prix            1:18.403   40
 8.  Karun Chandhok        Durango                   1:18.433   34
 9.  Bruno Senna           Arden International       1:18.473   45
10.  Sakon Yamamoto        BCN Competicion           1:18.478   43
12.  Roldan Rodriguez      Minardi Piquet Sports     1:18.563   34
13.  Andy Soucek           DPR                       1:18.581   41
14.  Alexandre Negrao      Minardi Piquet Sports     1:18.645   39
15.  Mike Conway           Super Nova International  1:18.673   21
16.  Borja Garcia          Durango                   1:18.701   39
18.  Adrian Zaugg          Arden International       1:18.964   37
19.  Ho Pin Tung           BCN Competicion           1:18.998   35
20.  Nicolas Lapierre      DAMS                      1:19.030   40
21.  Sergio Hernandez      Racing Engineering        1:19.092   33
22.  Jason Tahinci         FMS international         1:19.167   37
23.  Kohei Hirate          Trident Racing            1:19.226   40
24.  Christian Bakkerud    DPR                       1:19.403   34
25.  Kazuki Nakajima       DAMS                      1:19.482   24

Afternoon session:

Pos  Driver                Team                      Time      Laps
 1.  Andreas Zuber         iSport International      1:17.826   14
 2.  Javier Villa          Racing Engineering        1:18.130   36
 3.  Lucas Di Grassi       ART Grand Prix            1:18.151   39
 4.  Nicolas Lapierre      DAMS                      1:18.195   27
 5.  Bruno Senna           Arden International       1:18.271   32
 6.  Pastor Maldonado      Trident Racing            1:18.319   37
 7.  Mike Conway           Super Nova International  1:18.360   30
 8.  Ernesto Viso          FMS International         1:18.371   37
 9.  Roldan Rodriguez      Minardi Piquet Sports     1:18.398   28
10.  Michael Ammermueller  ART Grand Prix            1:18.437   41
11.  Giorgio Pantano       Campos Grand Prix         1:18.576   53
12.  Borja Garcia          Durango                   1:18.578   24
13.  Sakon Yamamoto        BCN Competicion           1:18.620   30
14.  Luca Filippi          Super Nova International  1:18.655   8
15.  Kohei Hirate          Trident Racing            1:18.684   45
16.  Ho Pin Tung           BCN Competicion           1:18.756   46
17.  Vitaly Petrov         Campos Grand Prix         1:18.893   36
18.  Karun Chandhok        Durango                   1:18.913   37
19.  Alexandre Negrao      Minardi Piquet Sports     1:18.914   38
20.  Sergio Hernandez      Racing Engineering        1:18.997   46
21.  Jason Tahinci         FMS International         1:19.271   27
22.  Kazuki Nakajima       DAMS                      1:19.346   46
23.  Christian Bakkerud    DPR                       1:19.408   31
24.  Andy Soucek           DPR                       1:19.450   24
25.  Sebastien Buemi       Arden International       1:19.455   33

[hotwheels]

what was buemi doing there? is zaugg hurt again?

[Roninho]

In the afternoon session P.2-P.20 are within 9 tenths of a second. Impressive, this really is a close-racing serie and it still offers a lot of overtaking opportunities.

[Chewie-1990]

Hernandez is back with Proteam in the WTCC from Porto onwards, so who's going to replace Jimenez?

[Chewie-1990]

Ok, hows about this:

http://www.forix.com/8w/6thgear/gp207.html

Look whos listed for FMS and Racing Engineering now

[chunterer]

Riiiight!

[Chewie-1990]

Thats what I thought, but I can't remember that site ever being particularly wrong, and I guess its possible, Carroll's DTM commitments dont clash with GP2 and im sure he'd love to return to the series, it's just a bit odd that Viso's suddenly changed from FMS to RE

[cds_uk]

I`m with Chewie here, they are normally spot on you know.

[Mekola]

If Viso could enter into teams sponsored by another petrol companies... does it means that PDVSA isn't sponsor him anymore?

[Chewie-1990]

Well his site seems to suggest he still is, but I really dont know, Im gonna say maybe

[spider]

Oli Jarvis was number one choice, but sadly his management team didn't want to rock the Japanese boat and jump ship mid-season...

[Jackman]

Originally Posted by spider

Oli Jarvis was number one choice, but sadly his management team didn't want to rock the Japanese boat and jump ship mid-season...

I seriously doubt that.


Adam Carroll is official now - Pizzonia out of FMS.

[cds_uk]

Well there you go, we wait for flexible-flyer to post now then.

[flexible-flyer]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

Well there you go, we wait for flexible-flyer to post now then.

didnt have to wait long did ya?!!? yee ha! my fave driver is now back in my fave series! and for the rest of the season too. he will be doing this alongside dtm for the rest of the year so for once, adam will be a busy boy.

no more excuses though. 2007 is make or brake for his f1 ambitions.

[Martin Haven]

Slightly worrying F3000-ish seat chopping and changing going on here and it's not even mid-season yet...

let's hope this all settles down and we don't begin the slippery slide from great racing series to revolving door for well-padded chequebooks...

Thinks: Wonder what Lewis Hamilton's World Championship will do for GP2s bragging rights if he does go on to claim it??

Think A1 and this football-club series thingy can take a hike in that case...

[Russfeld]

I don't think it will make a difference. GP2 (or any other series) can't lay claim to having discovered or developed him. What junior level profile he had came well before GP2 and what mainstream recognition he has comes from his F1 performance. What GP2 really needs for its reputation is for some non-name and non-F1 junior team drivers to make the step up.