GP2 2010 line-ups

[jens]

Well, meantime there have been some more news. The full line-ups of both ART and Barwa Addax have been confirmed. The signing of Sam Bird is a surprise to me, considering that he really hasn't shown much in so far. Considering that the difference of performance between ART team-mates has been significant in recent years, I suspect this is going to be the case next year as well... However, Perez has signed with Barwa as kinda expected and it's going to be a very important battle between him and vd Garde in 2010, whoever wants to have a bright future in motorsports. Younger and less experienced Perez has less to lose in this of course.

I think based on confirmations so far three drivers stand out, who could potentially regarded as 2010 title contenders: Bianchi, Perez, vd Garde. Wonder, which other driver could potentially be in the mix. D'Ambrosio has a shot at a Racing Engineering seat, but is struggling to gather the funds together. Valsecchi may race for iSport in the main series as well. If the Valsecchi deal doesn't materialize, Ericsson might get the second iSport seat - Arden is an other option for the Swede. By the way, one interesting news item for the long run - Ocean has signed Portugese Felix da Costa for 2011 (!) GP2 season. :

[Nikki Katz]

RIP Durango

Yeah, I think that Addax have a great lineup for next year, but at first glance ART have an awful one. Bird? Why??? Well, maybe he'll prove me wrong.

[patnicholls]

A shame that Durango have been forced to quit, as series stalwarts they'll be missed.

There used to be a running joke in the British Uni Karting Championship with everyone saying "I was quicker than Sam Bird", and indeed he is a fair old surprise to be snapped up by ART and while he's not been F3 title material he's not been a million miles off, so maybe he'll spring a surprise. I'd think Bianchi will be rather strong though for ART so they should be in title contention.

The Addax lineup also looks strong and Oliver Turvey will also be decent for iSport - mark him down as 'future star' also. There's plenty of other up-and-comers who'll be in there, Josef Kral who's with Super Nova in GP2 Asia looks good and surely someone will pick Christian Vietoris. Recent F1 test star Daniel Ricciardo won't be there though - he's going to be in WSbR with Tech 1.

[jens]

So Leimer and Chilton have been confirmed at Ocean for 2010. Leimer was quite expected and I suppose he might be one of the drivers to watch next year, especially as ORT has made a significant step forward during 2009 under new ownership. Maybe title contention would be a long shot for the Swiss, but Top10 in overall standings is surely achievable. Chilton is a bit more surprising choice, maybe the youngster will be rushed into GP2.

[Hayley]

I agree, Giedo is no Hamilton or Hulkenberg, but after last season I think the guy showed sparks of potential again. Indeed, he made a bit of a slow start, but as a first time GP2 driver, he faired pretty well in the 2nd half of the season. But now that he has (presumably) one of the best cars for next season, he has to show what he's truly made of.

He already has some experience driving F1 cars as a testdriver, which could be an advantage. A smaller team would probably come in line for him rather than a big name, that's true.

I would say VDG already had one of the best cars this year but it took him too long to drive it how it needed to be driven. I think he fought iSport too hard and in the end they were right and he changed his driving to adapt to the GP2 car and Bridgestone rubber. He will be strong at Addax so long at it doesn't blow up socially as is known with VDG and his very quick team mate doesn't affect his confidence.

[DazzlaF1]

Super Nova have confirmed Marcus Ericsson and Josef Kral for 2010

SO FAR

ART: 1. Jules Bianchi, 2. Sam Bird
BARWA ADDAX: 3. Giedo Van der Garde, 4. Sergio Perez
SUPER NOVA: 5. Marcus Ericsson, 6. Josef Kral
RACING ENGINEERING: 7. Dani Clos, 8. ???
iSPORT: 9. Oliver Turvey, 10. Davide Valsecchi
DAMS: 11. ???, 12. ???
RAPAX: 14. ???, 15. ???
ARDEN: 16. ???, 17. ???
OCEAN: 18. Max Chilton, 19. Fabio Leimer
COLONI: 20. ???, 21. ???
TRIDENT: 24. ???, 25. ???
DPR: 26. ???, 27. ???

[Placid]

Any chance that USF1 can get involved in Durango's vacant spot?

Or will Qi-Meritus take Durango's vacant spot?

[patnicholls]

Charles Pic in one of the Arden seats confirmed today on the various sites. The season doesn't start til May though, so plenty of time for the rest to get sorted.

[jens]

It's quite interesting that we will see so many rookies in 2010, while in the past the amount of experienced racers in GP2 has been quite significant. Among confirmed drivers so far rookies have an advantage of 8-3.

I suspect the reason for this phenomenon is that the economic crisis has had a detrimental effect especially on experienced drivers. Sponsors have become more choosy on who to support and in this case have preferred younger drivers with more perspective rather than those, who have been trundling around in feeder series for years without a notable breakthrough.

[Copse]

The season doesn't start til May though, so plenty of time for the rest to get sorted.

True, but on the other hand it is just a couple of weeks to the next GP2 Asia round. And as we saw last year, teams tended to put their signings for the main series into their Asia cars as soon as they could, sometimes at the cost of drivers who thought they had rides for the whole series. The Pitpass article about SuperNova's signings hints that Ericsson will be in their car in the Asia series, presumably at the cost of James Jakes.