GP2 2007, Who goes Where?

Sephirot1 · 13 Sep 2006, 15:36 (Ref:1709633)

First, let’s begin with this year’s line-up:

Alexandre Premat: will he get back after a regular second year? Will ART trust him again? Or maybe another team will hire him for his great experience in the series?

Lewis Hamilton: his way to Formula One is clear.

Nicolas Lapierre: terrific second year, clearly beaten by his teammate (3 years younger and with a lot less experience), his career with Arden is probably finished.

Michael Ammermüller: clearly beating his teammate throughout the season will probably net him a second year in Arden. (Alongside his Red Bull sponsor)

José Mar�*a López: his RDD budget has ended and Renault doesn’t want him in the team, his fate may lie in America.

Fairuz Fauzy: there will always be a team that wants his money, however, his absolute lack of results in two years might come back to haunt him.

Ernesto José Viso: he has shown some improvement this year but he is still irregular, unless he gets a seat in a top team again, his career in GP2 will end. Although he may get a test place somewhere like Spiker.

Timo Glock: after an outstanding second part of the season, the gates of F1 may have opened for him again. Williams sounds.

Adam Carroll: he is exactly in the same situation as López.

Javier Villa: he signed a two year contract and he has the budget.

Nelson Angelo Piquet: already confirmed as Renault test driver.

Alexandre Negrao: there are big chances of Piquet Sports dissapearing, I don’t know if any team would try to sign him in that case.

Ferdinando Monfardini: I don’t know, he is not worth of this seat but he seems to have a big budget, on the other hand, a third year may be harder than it looks.

Franck Perera: he has had a very bad season (excluding Monaco) but I guess Toyota will give him another oportunity. Looks like I was wrong.

Luca Filippi: it was a strange year for him. After getting used to the FMS car, he got fired. He hasn’t shown his true potential during the rest of the season in BCN , except in the last meeting.

Giorgio Pantano: it is already time for him to go to America, full time.

Jason Tahinci: budget, budget, budget and Petrol Ofisi. His skills have already be proven.

Hiroki Yoshimoto: he got an sponsor for the final part of the season but his results have been very poor.

Olivier Pla: he has run out of money, he has three months to find a new sponsor.

Clivio Piccione: out of the three Direxiv-sponsored drivers, he is the one with the most possibilities to get a seat next year.

Lucas di Grassi: he has really improved over the year, he will be in next year, although I hope it is in another team.

Sergio Hernández: everybody says his single-seater career has ended, I agree.

Adrián Vallés: not a very good season but I think he will stay with Campos.

Félix Porteiro: same as Vallés.

Gianmaria Bruni: he almost has a team on his own, so unless he gets a call from above, he will stay.

Andreas Zuber: he will probably have another opportunity alongside Bruni.

Tristan Gommendy: lack of budget, he was unable to finish his first season, he is having a hard time looking for sponsors.

Next on line and ready to give GP2 a shot:

Mike Conway: he is almost set to get a DPR seat.

Bruno Senna: many speculations have been done about him but I have one thing pretty clear, he will be in GP2 next year.

Oliver Jarvis: he has some possibilities but I don’t see him going up so quickly.

Vitaly Petrov: a big amount of money brought him to the series for the last races of 2006, will we see him again?

Danilo Dirani: What in hell is he doing in Champ-Atlantic? The Honda team doesn’t want to bring him back to Europe, at least for now.

Graham Rahal: he wants a seat and he will do anything for it.

Adrian Zaugg: he will probably be racing in WSR next year but he may have a chance.

Daniel Clos: he said he wants to drive in WSR and he is probably too young, anyway.

Chris van der Drift: another one whose future lies in WSR.

Paul di Resta: the scotsman has a pretty good chance of getting a seat, I wonder were.

Sebastian Vettel: third driver in BMW or a place in GP2? Or is he going to do both? That’s exactly what he wants.

Esteban Guerrieri: he would probably have some money problems but he wouldn’t be a bad choice.

Korei Hirate: I don’t think Toyota are going to pay two GP2 seats but he may enter the series instead of Perera. That place seems to have been given to Nakajima, anyway.

Giedo van der Garde: another year in the Euroseries would be pretty hard for him but maybe he is not prepared for a bigger championship...

Kazuki Nakajima: Toyota tester and, probably, a GP2 driver.

Milos Pavlovic: he seems to be doing pretty well after getting out of Cram, his nationality may bring an opportunity for him in a low team.

Sean McIntosh: a second year in WSR wouldn’t hurt him.

Christian Montanari: I don’t think he is a good pilot but...

James Rossiter: the “Killer” hasn’t had the best of season but Honda is lacking a pilot in GP2... and they probably want one.

Davide Valsecchi: only if Epsilon get a team in the series, somehow.

Benjamin Hanley: probably not and he may even lose his RDD budget.

Mikhail Aleshin: Red Bull backing + being Russian + good driving cound lend him a seat but I think he is still too young.

Alx Danielsson: his recent show in Donington has make him go really up in the rankings. He is a dangerous driver but he is also pretty skilled. He was close to getting a seat last year.

Alvaro Parente: too conformist in my opinion but he is still a pretty good driver who probably has enough money to drive for a top team.

Andy Soucek: another great driver, deserving of a position in GP2, most probable winner in WSR.

Borja Garc�*a: he will be back next year... if he can get some money. He is already testing for BCN.

Pastor Maldonado: a driver that can go really high if he controls himself, a good choice for a team.

Any other drivers you can think of?

My line-up:

ART: di Resta, Vettel
Arden: Ammermüller, Senna
Isport: Piccione, Maldonado
Racing Engineering: Villa, Lapierre
DAMS: Nakajima, Monfardini
FMS: Filippi, Tahinci
BCN: Garc�*a, Yoshimoto
DPR: Conway, Rahal
Trident: Bruni, Zuber
Campos: Vallés, Porteiro
SuperNova: di Grassi, Fauzy
Carlin: Parente, Aleshin
Durango: Soucek, Danielsson

Or something like that, who knows?

Who said “How long before someone starts the 2007 Who Goes Where? Thread”?

Obizzz · 13 Sep 2006, 16:44 (Ref:1709670)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephirot1

Alx Danielsson: his recent show in Donington has make him go really up in the rankings. He is a dangerous driver but he is also pretty skilled. He was close to getting a seat last year.

Dangerous driver? Virtually none of the accidents he's been involved with has been his fault.. he's actually quite the opposite very planning and calm driver.

Rumors are he has a press release with "great news" for tomorrow

I've been following Alx career closely over the last few years and have met him personally a few times and my impression is definately not that of a "dangerous driver"

Just my view on things...

Donington wasn't the last you heard of Alx

**chunterer** · 13 Sep 2006, 17:08 (Ref:1709679)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sephirot1

My line-up:

ART: di Resta, Vettel
Arden: Ammermüller, Senna
Isport: Piccione, Maldonado
Racing Engineering: Villa, Lapierre
DAMS: Nakajima, Monfardini
FMS: Filippi, Tahinci
BCN: Garc�*a, Yoshimoto
DPR: Conway, Rahal
Trident: Bruni, Zuber
Campos: Vallés, Porteiro
SuperNova: di Grassi, Fauzy
Carlin: Parente, Aleshin
Durango: Soucek, Danielsson

Or something like that, who knows?

Who said “How long before someone starts the 2007 Who Goes Where? Thread”?

Good stuff!

We know Hamilton, Nelsinho and possible Glock will be off to F1 next year in some form or other.

Premat, Lapierre, Yoshimoto, Carroll, Lopez (unless he gets a new backer), Bruni, Pantano, Porteiro, Monfardini, Fauzy and Negrao will all be elsewhere next year I reckon.

Those staying on I feel will be:

Di Grassi, Viso, Ammermuller, Zuber, Valles, Villa, Perera, Piccione, Filippi, Tahinci.

That leave minimum 16 seats up for grabs and in all likelihood a lot more than that.

Good thoughts on the line up but I don't think ART will sign either of those two.

I reckon it'll be a toss up between Ammermuller, Valles, Senna, Di Grassi, Zuber and whoever wins the WSR for the ART seats.

Those I think that will definitely be coming in as long as they find the budget are as follows:

From WSR 3.5:

Soucek, Maldonado, Danielsson, Garcia, Salignon, Parente.

From Euro F3:

Di Resta, Vettel, Guerreri, Nakajima and one guy I can't remember name of....Grosjean is it??

From Brit F3:

Conway, Senna

From elsewhere:

Graham Rahal, Bruno Spengler?????

So that still leaves at least 2 seats???

Daisy · 13 Sep 2006, 17:51 (Ref:1709693)

Rahal is likely to do Champcars next year, and I don't think Spengler will leave DTM. Di Resta is also likely to run in DTM next year, together with Premat in a new ASM Mercedes team. I hope for Premat that he can beat Di Resta then, because the last 4 years, he lost against all his teammates (Pla in 2003, Green in 2004, Rosberg in 2005 and Hamilton this year).

I can see a lot of new guys coming, but the field needs some experience. I can see Viso and Pantano stay for another year, and maybe Carroll. I also hope Perera can find a good seat, it cost him his place in the Toyota Driver Academy (I was schocked yesterday when I read they dropped him). And as from Holland, I hope to see Giedo Van Der Garde next year as well. If Di Resta goes to DTM and Vettel will test for BMW, he maybe has a chance at ART. But I would love to see him anyway.

**bella** · 13 Sep 2006, 18:49 (Ref:1709722)

yeah, i was a bit amazed toyota have dropped perera too, it's a bit rubbish to take a driver that far based on their karting experience and performance and then drop them.

would a good place for van der garde to go be dtm? i think he could have more of a future there than in gp2...

hotwheels · 13 Sep 2006, 20:43 (Ref:1709790)

Is there any new team coming to the series?

Mekola · 14 Sep 2006, 01:36 (Ref:1709880)

López is still on contract with Renault... is not defined its situation yet.
Despite his declarations, he might stay in GP2 for another year.
It's possible he will test with BCN at one of the following collective tests.

**chunterer** · 14 Sep 2006, 08:40 (Ref:1710016)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daisy

Rahal is likely to do Champcars next year, and I don't think Spengler will leave DTM. Di Resta is also likely to run in DTM next year, together with Premat in a new ASM Mercedes team.
I can see Viso and Pantano stay for another year, and maybe Carroll. I also hope Perera can find a good seat, it cost him his place in the Toyota Driver Academy (I was schocked yesterday when I read they dropped him).

Spengler was a pure 'hypothesize' as he's been quite stunning in DTM this year and might have done enough to warrant interest from GP2 or WSR teams if that's what he wanted to do.

Apparently Pantano's already stated he will be chasing f/t drives elsewhere next year so we won't see him again and Carroll's participation will depend on money - maybe RE keep him but he's pranged a lot of cars this year so who paid the bills?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bella

yeah, i was a bit amazed toyota have dropped perera too, it's a bit rubbish to take a driver that far based on their karting experience and performance and then drop them.

Well it's a bit off to dump him after the year he's had because DAMS clearly haven't worked out how to make the cars go consistently all weekend yet. Did Toyota rerally think Franck would do the business in just one year in that team??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mekola

López might stay in GP2 for another year.
It's possible he will test with BCN at one of the following collective tests.

I have to say he's massively disappointed me this year. The question we obviously need to be asking ourselves (as I am sure he and Renault are!) is how the season might have turned out had he been driving for say.... ART or I-sport?

I can't believe the relatively poor perfromance this year was just down to him, but maybe Supernova as well. Like DAMS, Supernova just haven't been 'themselves' for a few seasons now...

But for his sake I hope he doesn't take a BCN drive just to stay in the series, that won't help him (unless he takes a top engineer with him?)

DanFlag · 14 Sep 2006, 10:57 (Ref:1710100)

Excellent work, very interesting

Obizzz · 14 Sep 2006, 11:19 (Ref:1710111)

News just got out that Alx Danielsson is scheduled for a test with iSport International on October 4th

Sephirot1 · 14 Sep 2006, 12:03 (Ref:1710139)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

I reckon it'll be a toss up between Ammermuller, Valles, Senna, Di Grassi, Zuber and whoever wins the WSR for the ART seats.

I also thought of Ammermüller but I just don't see Red Bull sponsoring ART.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

From Euro F3:

Di Resta, Vettel, Guerreri, Nakajima and one guy I can't remember name of....Grosjean is it??

Yes, Romain Grosjean, a good driver but too unexperienced. I thought of the chinese Ho-Pin Tung too, who said he wanted to drive in GP2.

And those are good news Obizzz, strangely, I had a line-up that I forgot to update with Vettel and Danielssson in iSport.

I wonder if there are going to be any new teams. Durango is awaiting offers after all.

**chunterer** · 14 Sep 2006, 12:43 (Ref:1710162)

Re the Danielsson test, didn't Paul Jackson used to work for Martin Donnelly for a bit who in turn is linked to Jonathan Lewis in some way (I think?) who runs Alx now?

This will have probably helped massage things along a bit?

hotwheels · 14 Sep 2006, 13:40 (Ref:1710204)

Who do you guys think will be testing for FMS?

**FIRE** · 14 Sep 2006, 16:34 (Ref:1710313)

Quote:

Giedo van der Garde: another year in the Euroseries would be pretty hard for him but maybe he is not prepared for a bigger championship...

After 3 years F3 it's time to move on, probably GP2 or DTM.

hotwheels · 14 Sep 2006, 17:06 (Ref:1710337)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIRE

After 3 years F3 it's time to move on, probably GP2 or DTM.

Giedo should try World Series. He did very well testing last year, indeed.

**bella** · 14 Sep 2006, 17:10 (Ref:1710341)

no no no, not unless he knows which team is the right one for last year. it's not a gamble he should be taking unless he has nowhere else to go.

i'd like to see van der garde in a dtm car, the more i think about it, the more it seems the right thing to do, both from his point of view and mercedes.

Daisy · 14 Sep 2006, 17:15 (Ref:1710343)

Van Der Garde is a Mercedes Junior driver, so it seems more likely to me that he will run in DTM or GP2 than in the RENAULT World Series.

**bella** · 14 Sep 2006, 19:23 (Ref:1710445)

yeah, but a *honda* driver ran in the *renault* world series this year, so it doesn't really mean too much

also : gp2 is a renault series, so i think world series is just as likely as gp2, depending on how much money he can extract from his supporters i suppose.

kipper · 14 Sep 2006, 19:58 (Ref:1710473)

I think that van der Garde will end up in the DTM as opposed to a seat in a single seater championship, although I would stress that is a just a hunch.

With regard to Arden, I suspect that Christian Horner's obvious connection with Red Bull could see Ammermuller stay at Arden. Alternatively, with Ammermuller doing some testing with Red Bull F1 and speculation that Neel Jani could be taking over the Champ Car seat originally intended for Klien, a full time seat with Red Bull/Toro Rosso may loom for Ammermuller instead of racing.

Obizzz · 15 Sep 2006, 07:46 (Ref:1710725)

Read in a Swedish newspaper today that Alx has recieved offers from 5 GP2-teams

Alex K · 15 Sep 2006, 07:57 (Ref:1710742)

Where is his new backing comming from

Obizzz · 15 Sep 2006, 08:14 (Ref:1710765)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex K

Where is his new backing comming from

New backing?

According to the same news site the teams contacted him after the wins at Doni

It's just that he finally got the result to backup the speed he's been believed to have all the time

Sephirot1 · 15 Sep 2006, 11:28 (Ref:1710915)

News say Bonanomi is testing for Durango.

I like him and he can be a good addition as the second driver in Durango.

Jackman · 18 Sep 2006, 16:50 (Ref:1713048)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bella

yeah, but a *honda* driver ran in the *renault* world series this year, so it doesn't really mean too much

also : gp2 is a renault series, so i think world series is just as likely as gp2, depending on how much money he can extract from his supporters i suppose.

Carroll's not a Honda driver, if that's who you meant. But Ron Dennis used to say he would never put Lewis Hamilton in GP2 because it's a Renault series, so things can change.

flexible-flyer · 18 Sep 2006, 17:13 (Ref:1713063)

i think bella means rossiter. who drives for pons. the best british driver in that particular series.