GP2 Asia Series Season 2011

GP2 Asia Series Season 2011

master
Driver:	Romain Grosjean
Team:	DAMS
Season dates
Number of races:	4th
< 2009/10

The 2011 GP2 Asia Series season was the fourth and final season of the GP2 Asia Series . The season started on February 11th in Yas Island and ended on March 20th in Imola . Two planned racing weekends in as-Sachir were canceled due to the protests in Bahrain in 2011 . Romain Grosjean won the GP2 Asia Series championship title for the second time. DAMS , his racing team, won the team championship.

Starting field

team	Automobile #	driver	Race weekend
iSport International	01	Marcus Ericsson	1-2
	02	Sam Bird	1-2
Arden International	03	Josef Král	1-2
	04th	Jolyon Palmer	1-2
Lotus ART	05	Jules Bianchi	1-2
	06th	Esteban Gutiérrez	1-2
Super Nova Racing	07th	Fairuz Fauzy	1-2
	08th	Johnny cecotto jr.	1-2
DAMS	09	Romain Grosjean	1-2
	10	Pål Varhaug	1-2
Scuderia Coloni	11	Michael Herck	1-2
	12	James Jakes	1
		Luca Filippi	2
Ocean Racing Technology	14th	Andrea Caldarelli	1-2
	15th	Oliver Turvey	1-2
Barwa Addax team	16	Charles Pic	1-2
	17th	Giedo van der Garde	1-2
Trident Racing	18th	Stefano Coletti	1-2
	19th	Rodolfo González	1-2
Rapax	20th	Fabio Leimer	1-2
	21st	Julian Leal	1-2
Racing engineering	22nd	Nathanaël Berthon	1-2
	23	Dani Clos	1-2
Carlin	24	Mikhail Alyoshin	1-2
	25th	Max Chilton	1-2
Team AirAsia	26th	Luiz Razia	1-2
	27	Davide Valsecchi	1-2

Changes in the teams

DPR and Meritus no longer competed in the 2011 season. With Carlin , Racing Engineering and Team AirAsia, three new teams took part in the season. From this season onwards, the ART Grand Prix was supported by Lotus Cars and entered under the name "ART Lotus" . Since the AirAsia team belongs to the Lotus Racing team principal , the strange situation arose in which Lotus Cars and Lotus Racing compete against each other.

Changes during the season

Luca Filippi returned to the GP2 Asia series for the second race weekend and replaced James Jakes at Scuderia Coloni . Jakes previously took part in IndyCar Series test drives .

Racing calendar

The racing calendar of the GP2 Asia series originally consisted of three racing weekends on two tracks. Due to political unrest in Bahrain, the second race weekend, which was planned for February 17th to 19th, had to be canceled before the start of practice. The last race weekend was to be held from March 11th to 13th at the Bahrain International Circuit as part of the Formula 1 supporting program, but this race weekend was also canceled together with the Bahrain Grand Prix .

Finally, at the beginning of March, the series announced that the season finale in Imola, Europe, had been moved to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari .

No.	date	Racetrack	winner	Second	Third
1.	February 11th	Yas Island	Jules Bianchi	Romain Grosjean	Davide Valsecchi
2.	February 12th		Stefano Coletti	Josef Král	Marcus Ericsson
3.	19th March	Imola	Romain Grosjean	Giedo van der Garde	Jules Bianchi
4th	March, 20th		Dani Clos	Fabio Leimer	Giedo van der Garde

Race reports

1st race weekend: Yas Marina Circuit

Main race

space	driver	team	time
1	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	1: 22: 04.643
2	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	+ 6.681
3	Davide Valsecchi	Team AirAsia	+ 12.794
PP	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	1: 36.041
SR	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	1: 38.141

The main race on the Yas Marina Circuit took place on February 11, 2011 and covered a distance of 33 laps of 4.730 km, which corresponds to a total distance of 156.090 km. The GP2 Asia race weekend took place on a shorter track variant than the last GP2 race weekend on the Yas Marina Circuit.

Originally the race was supposed to be held over a distance of 36 laps. However, after a takeoff accident, it had to be interrupted to clean the track. Dani Clos stopped at the start. Luiz Razia didn't see Clos had stopped and drove sideways into his car. Both cars were pushed aside and met Pål Varhaug , who also retired. All three pilots were uninjured.

Subsequently, a duel for first place between Jules Bianchi , who had already passed Romain Grosjean before the demolition , determined the race. While Bianchi failed to break away from Grosjean, Grosjean failed to overtake Bianchi. Even after the pit stops, the order of the two drivers remained unchanged. Grosjean gave up the duel only a few laps before the end of the race and let Bianchi drive away for a few seconds.

Few overtaking maneuvers occurred on the track in the front positions. However, shortly before the end of the race, Marcus Ericsson managed to drive past Giedo van der Garde and take fourth position.

Bianchi finally won ahead of Grosjean. Third was Davide Valsecchi , who drove an inconspicuous race and scored points for the new AirAsia team in the first race . The other points went to Ericsson, van der Garde, Josef Král , Sam Bird and Stefano Coletti .

Max Chilton , who crossed the finish line in eighth place, was subsequently given a 20-second penalty and dropped back to twelfth place. Chilton shortened the route when overtaking Coletti on the last lap.

Sprint race

space	driver	team	time
1	Stefano Coletti	Trident Racing	43: 02.819
2	Josef Král	Arden International	+ 2.629
3	Marcus Ericsson	iSport International	+ 3.323
SR	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	1: 37.745

The sprint race on the Yas Marina Circuit took place on February 12, 2011 and covered a distance of 26 laps of 4.730 km, which corresponds to a total distance of 122.980 km.

Even before the start, an investigation was initiated against Giedo van der Garde because a mechanic had been on his car for too long. After he had moved up to second place behind Stefano Coletti after the start , he was given a drive-through penalty after a few laps and fell back to the bottom of the field.

After Romain Grosjean was out on the first lap after a spin, the race initially went without a change of position. The first four drivers: Coletti, Sam Bird , Josef Král and Marcus Ericsson broke away from the rest of the field. Behind them were Davide Valsecchi , Fabio Leimer , Jules Bianchi and Michael Herck a little way behind .

While the position at the top remained unchanged except for Bird's retirement, Bianchi managed to overtake Leimer and Valsecchi in the final phase. Leimer was also overtaken by Herck.

Coletti eventually won his first race ahead of Král and Ericsson. The other points went to Valsecchi, Herck and Leimer.

Bianchi crossed the finish line in fourth place, but he was given a 20-second penalty along with Nathanaël Berthon and Charles Pic for ignoring yellow flags. Pic lost his place in the top ten pilots and with it the bonus point for the fastest lap, for which the race had to be finished in the top ten. Bianchi, who only fell back to eighth place, finally received this bonus point.

The first three positions in the drivers' championship remained unchanged. Lotus ART remained in the lead among the teams. iSport International took over the second position from DAMS.

Race weekends: Bahrain International Circuit (canceled)

The second race weekend was originally supposed to take place from February 17th to 19th, 2011 at the Bahrain International Circuit . Due to political unrest , training and qualifying were initially postponed. A little later, the entire race weekend was canceled.

The main race was to go over a distance of 32 laps of 5.412 km, which would have corresponded to a total distance of 173.184 km, and the sprint race over a distance of 23 laps of 5.412 km, which would have corresponded to a total distance of 124.746 km.

Shortly afterwards, the third race weekend, which was originally supposed to take place on February 12 and 13, 2011, also on the Bahrain International Circuit, was canceled.

2nd race weekend: Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari

Main race

space	driver	team	time
1	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	52: 59.103
2	Giedo van der Garde	Barwa Addax team	+ 14.349
3	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	+ 17,527
PP	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	1: 27.067
SR	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	1: 28.097

The main race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari took place on March 19, 2011 and covered a distance of 35 laps of 4.909 km, which corresponds to a total distance of 171.815 km.

Romain Grosjean defended the lead at the start against Giedo van der Garde , who started the race from fifth. Jules Bianchi , who had led the drivers' standings before the race, did not start optimally and fell back to fifth place behind Josef Král . Bianchi was among the Arden pilots with Jolyon Palmer behind him. However, Palmer damaged his front wing in the duel with Bianchi in the first laps and fell back into the rear field.

While Grosjean was safely in first position and dominated the race, Bianchi overtook Král and took fourth position. During his pit stop he managed to pass Michael Herck . He was unable to further improve his position.

The race did not go optimally for iSport International . At first, Sam Bird dropped from second to eighth place at the start. In the further course there was an internal team collision between Bird and Marcus Ericsson , in which Bird retired and Ericsson fell out of the points.

Grosjean finally crossed the finish line in first place and was also the driver who had achieved the fastest race lap. Van der Garde was second ahead of Bianchi and Herck. Behind that there was a bigger gap up to fifth-placed driver Stefano Coletti , who started the race from 16th place. The other points went to Fabio Leimer , Dani Clos and Fairuz Fauzy .

Originally, Davide Valsecchi finished in sixth place, but was subsequently disqualified for a racing car that did not comply with the rules.

With the win, Grosjean took the lead in the championship from Bianchi. With seven points left to be awarded, Grosjean was five points ahead of Bianchi.

Sprint race

space	driver	team	time
1	Dani Clos	Racing engineering	37: 25.901
2	Fabio Leimer	Rapax	+ 0.931
3	Giedo van der Garde	Barwa Addax team	+ 4.007
SR	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	1: 28.772

The sprint race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari took place on March 20, 2011 and covered a distance of 25 laps of 4.909 km, which corresponds to a total distance of 122.725 km.

Starting from pole position, Fairuz Fauzy did not get into the race well and lost several places. Before the first corner, while braking, he drove into Stefano Coletti's car , who then met Jules Bianchi . All three pilots were eliminated. Bianchi's departure was synonymous with the early title win by Romain Grosjean , who could not be overtaken by any other driver.

Dani Clos took the top position from the start and held it until the end of the race, when he was put under pressure by Fabio Leimer . Giedo van der Garde went third . Grosjean, who set the fastest lap, crossed the finish line in fourth place ahead of Esteban Gutiérrez , Michael Herck and Pål Varhaug .

After the race, however, Grosjean was given a 20-second time penalty and dropped back to seventh place. Grosjean had shortened the route while attempting to overtake Gutiérrez and thus gained an advantage. In addition, Johnny Cecotto Jr. with a subsequent 20-second time penalty, as the stewards blamed him for a collision with Sam Bird , in which Bird was eliminated. Cecotto's position (19th) remained unchanged.

Grosjean became GP2 Asia champion for the second time since 2008 . Bianchi kept second overall ahead of van der Garde. DAMS won the team competition .

Rating

Point system

In the main race (HAU) the first eight of the race got 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 point (s). In the sprint race (SPR), the first six of the race received 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 point (s). In addition, the winner of the qualifying, who started from pole position in the main race, received two points. The driver who achieved the fastest lap of the first ten classified drivers also received a point.

Driver ranking

Item driver UAE HAU UAE SPR ITA HAU ITA SPR Points 01  R. Grosjean 2 DNF 1 7th 24 02  J. Bianchi 1 8th 3 DNF 18th 03  G. van der Garde 5 23 2 3 16 04th  S. Coletti 8th 1 5 DNF 11 05  F. Leimer 10 6th 6th 2 9 06th  M. Ericsson 4th 3 10 16 9 07th  D. Valsecchi 3 4th DSQ 17th 9 08th  M. Herck 13 5 4th 5 9 09  D. Clos DNF 22nd 7th 1 8th 10  J. Král 6th 2 12 9 8th 11  E. Gutiérrez DNF 12 11 4th 3 12  S. Bird 7th DNF DNF DNF 2 13  P. Varhaug DNF 20th 13 6th 1 14th  F. Fauzy DNF 15th 8th DNF 1 15th  J. Cecotto 15th 7th 15th 19th 0 16  O. Turvey 18th 19th 14th 8th 0 17th  R. González 11 9 9 DNF 0 18th  C. Pic 9 21st 20th 11 0 19th  J. Palmer 14th 10 18th DNF 0 20th  L. Filippi     22nd 10 0 21st  A. Caldarelli 16 11 17th 12 0 22nd  M. Chilton 12 18th 21st 15th 0 23  N. Berthon DNF 14th DNF 13 0 24  J. Jakes 17 * 13     0 25th  L. Razia DNF 16 DNF 14th 0 26th  J. Leal DNF 17th 16 18th 0 27  M. Alyoshin DNF 24 * 19th 20th 0 Item driver UAE HAU UAE SPR ITA HAU ITA SPR Points

colour meaning gold winner silver 2nd place bronze 3rd place green Placement in the points blue Classified outside the point ranks violet Race not finished (DNF) not classified (NC) red not qualified (DNQ) black disqualified (DSQ) White not at the start (DNS) withdrawn (WD) Race canceled (C) Blank not participated injured or sick (INJ) excluded (EX) other formats and characters P / bold Pole position italic Fastest racing lap (in the GP2 series / FIA Formula 2 championship from 2008 for the fastest racing lap of the ten best drivers) * not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered underlined Leader in the overall standings

Team evaluation

Item	team	Car no.	UAE HAU	UAE SPR	ITA HAU	ITA SPR	Points
01	DAMS	09	2	DNF	1	7th	25th
		10	DNF	20th	13	6th
02	Lotus ART	05	1	8th	3	DNF	21st
		06th	DNF	12	11	4th
03	Barwa Addax team	16	9	21st	20th	11	16
		17th	5	23	2	3
04th	Trident Racing	18th	8th	1	5	DNF	11
		19th	11	9	9	DNF
05	iSport International	01	4th	3	10	16	11
		02	7th	DNF	DNF	DNF
06th	Rapax	20th	10	6th	6th	2	9
		21st	DNF	17th	16	18th
07th	Team AirAsia	26th	DNF	16	DNF	14th	9
		27	3	4th	DSQ	17th
08th	Scuderia Coloni	11	13	5	4th	5	9
		12	17 *	13	22nd	10
09	Racing engineering	22nd	DNF	14th	DNF	13	8th
		23	DNF	22nd	7th	1
10	Arden International	03	6th	2	12	9	8th
		04th	14th	10	18th	DNF
11	Super Nova Racing	07th	DNF	15th	8th	DNF	1
		08th	15th	7th	15th	19th
12	Ocean Racing Technology	14th	16	11	17th	12	0
		15th	18th	19th	14th	8th
13	Carlin	24	DNF	24 *	19th	20th	0
		25th	12	18th	21st	15th
Item	team	Car no.	UAE HAU	UAE SPR	ITA HAU	ITA SPR	Points

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} "GP2 with 13 teams in the coming years" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 21, 2010)
2. ↑ ^{a b} "iSport: Bird and Ericsson in GP2" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 12, 2011)
3. ↑ ^{a b} "Arden brings Kral and Palmer" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 24, 2011)
4. ↑ ^{a b} "Curious: ART joins Lotus" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 22, 2010)
5. ↑ ^{a b} “Teams and Drivers” (gp2series.com)
6. ↑ "Fauzy starts 2011 for Super Nova" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 18, 2011)
7. ↑ "Cecotto jr. drives for Super Nova " (Motorsport-Total.com on January 26, 2011)
8. ↑ ^{a b} "Back at DAMS: Grosjean wants the GP2 title" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 25, 2011)
9. ↑ "GP2: Herck switches to Coloni" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 18, 2010)
10. ↑ "Jakes docks at Coloni" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 14, 2011)
11. ↑ ^{a b} “Filippi Replaces Jakes At Coloni For Imola” (thecheckeredflag.co.uk on March 17, 2011)
12. ↑ ^{a b} “OCEAN BETS ON OLIVER TURVEY AND ANDREA CALDARELLI FOR GP2 ASIA 2011” ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (gp2series.com on February 1, 2011)  
13. ↑ “RODOLFO GONZALEZ COMPLETES TRIDENT RACING LINE UP IN 2011” ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (gp2series.com on January 27, 2011)  
14. ^ "Leimer switches to Rapax" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 7, 2010)
15. ↑ “JULIAN LEAL JOINS RAPAX FOR 2011 GP2 ASIA SERIES” (gp2series.com on January 29, 2011)
16. ↑ ^{a b} "Vietoris and Clos continue with Racing Engineering" (Motorsport-Total.com on January 27, 2011)
17. ↑ ^{a b} “CARLIN SIGN ALESHIN AND CHILTON FOR GP2” ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (gp2series.com on January 27, 2011)  
18. ↑ ^{a b} “AirAsia secures Valsecchi and Razia” (autosport.com on February 4, 2011)
19. ↑ "Test start: Power ties in - Bourdais hardworking" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 14, 2011)
20. ^ "GP2 Asia: Only three races on the calendar" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 8, 2010)
21. ↑ ^{a b} “BAHRAIN WITHDRAW FROM 2011 GP2 ASIA SERIES CALENDAR” (gp2series.com on February 21, 2011)
22. ↑ "GP2 Asia - Final takes place in Imola" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on March 1, 2011)
23. ↑ “MAX CHILTON PENALISED” (gp2series.com on February 11, 2011)
24. ↑ “POST RACE PENALTIES” (gp2series.com on February 12, 2011)
25. ↑ "Bahrain: The unrest reaches motorsport" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 17, 2011)
26. ↑ "Due to the unrest: The GP2 cancels the Bahrain event" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 17, 2011)
27. ↑ “Davide Valsecchi excluded from Feature Race” (gp2series.com on March 19, 2011)
28. ↑ "GP2 Asia - Romain Grosjean wins in Imola" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on March 19, 2011)
29. ↑ “Grosjean dominates Imola race one” (autosport.com on March 19, 2011) (autosport.com on March 19, 2011)
30. ↑ “Clos wins race, Grosjean takes title” (autosport.com on March 20, 2011)
31. ↑ “GROSJEAN AND CECOTTO PENALIZED AFTER THE RACE” (gp2series.com on March 20, 2011)