2014 in European junior formula series (GP2 etc)

Indy500

Indy500

Indy500

Soldato
Joined
7 Mar 2005
Posts
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Since nobody's made a GP2/GP3 or similar thread, I guess I'll start one. There are a very large number of junior series (far too many in my opinion), so I won't be able to cover them all in detail. Nonetheless, I hope this sparks some discussion and saves interesting news from being buried in the off-topic thread.

FIA sanctioned

European Formula 3 - http://www.fiaf3europe.com

GP3 Series - http://www.gp3series.com

GP2 Series - http://www.gp2series.com

Renault championships

Formula Renault 3.5, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 - http://www.worldseriesbyrenault.fr/en/Pages/Default.aspx

Formula Renault 2.0 Alps - http://www.renaultsportitalia.it/campionato/f-renault-2-0-alps

Formula Renault 2.0 NEC - http://necup.com

Formula Renault 1.6 NEC/Nordic - http://frcup.com , www.fia-nez.eu

National championships

Formula Renault UK - http://www.renaultsport.co.uk/championships/formularenaultbarc

Formula Ford UK - http://www.britishformulaford.co.uk

British Formula 4 - http://www.formula4.com

Formula ADAC (Germany) - http://www.adac-formel-masters.de

French Formula 4 - http://www.autosportacademy.com/gb/competition

Formula Abarth (Italy) - http://www.acisportitalia.it/ABARTH/

Euroformula Open (formerly Spanish Formula 3) - http://www.f3open.net

British Formula 3 - http://www.formula3.co

German Formula 3 - http://www.formel3.de/en/

Making things more confusing and adding to the level of redundancy, Renault plans to set up additional 1.6 litre series in the near future. (http://www.paddockscout.com/formula-renault-1-6-alps-series-introduced-for-2014/)
 
Good thread idea.

I agree on there being far to many series with none seeming to provide a path to F1. There's FA1 to add too.
 
Skeeter said:
Good thread idea.

I agree on there being far to many series with none seeming to provide a path to F1.
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It's not an exhaustive list, I tried to keep things manageable. :p

You're right, there is no set path... and while drivers often compete in multiple series at the same time, it's a very expensive way to get more mileage. Usually something that only manufacturer-backed drivers are able to do.
 
Great thread idea mate :)

There is a lot of lower Formula at the moment, I think having better coverage (or any coverage in a lot of cases!) would help an awful lot, but I would imagine that would cost quite a lot.



Was reading about Russian Time earlier and it's not looking good, seems it will be the team name only for the most part... http://www.motopark.com/news/2014/News/Team-Motopark-Set-to-Focus-on-Domestic-Championships-63/

Tom Dillmann has put on Twitter that he was due to stay with the team this season but now it is all in jeopardy, would be a shame for him, it'd be another set back.... It's a difficult business when you don't have the funding!
 
According to http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=43489&cat=4 , iSport is making a comeback by running the existing Russian Time team but with Mitchell Evans and Artem Markelov as their GP2 drivers.

AutoGP series runner-up Kimiya Sato will move to GP2 with Campos. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112536)

Ferrari protege (and 2013 European F3 champion) Raffaelle Marciello has been confirmed at Racing Engineering. (http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/gp2-marciello-joins-racing-engineering-120653130--spt.html)

Meanwhile in GP3, Dino Zamparelli will switch to ART Grand Prix for his second season. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112558)
 
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Mike306 said:
Nice thread idea. Does anyone now what TV coverage is like? Limited I expect.

Is GP2/3 on Sky?
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I would assume so. TV deals for Formula 3 are not finalised yet. Motors TV has been carrying Renault 3.5 in the past, not sure about this season.
 
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The FIA are going on a bureaucratic witch hunt and tying to stop anyone who isn't using the current F3 engine rules from calling their series 'F3'. Which affects almost all F3 series around the globe.

Obviously nothing to do with branding or they would be banning anyone from calling last years F1 cars 'an F1 car', so it seems like its just a missguided attempt to force everyone to run to the new engine specs. The problem with that is there aren't enough new spec cars out there, and even if they were hardly any of the national series have the money in them to afford to run them.

FIA in destroying a series total non shocker :rolleyes:
 
Skeeter said:
The FIA are going on a bureaucratic witch hunt and tying to stop anyone who isn't using the current F3 engine rules from calling their series 'F3'. Which affects almost all F3 series around the globe.
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Yeah, saw that, hence the name change for the Spanish championship.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112480

Skeeter said:
Obviously nothing to do with branding or they would be banning anyone from calling last years F1 cars 'an F1 car', so it seems like its just a missguided attempt to force everyone to run to the new engine specs. The problem with that is there aren't enough new spec cars out there, and even if they were hardly any of the national series have the money in them to afford to run them.

FIA in destroying a series total non shocker :rolleyes:
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Obviously didn't learn from the Euroseries collapse. The Masters of F3 event at Zandvoort won't be allowed to use the name either, and teams in European F3 have a calendar clash. To give you an idea of its relevance: Lewis Hamilton, Valtterri Bottas, Paul di Resta, Jules Bianchi and Nico Hulkenberg are among the past winners. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112562)
 
Its such a shame the FIA are so retarded. When they clearly thought that it would make everyone switch to the new engine formula, in reality its going to see almost all F3 series change their name instead.

Having been fully against an F1 breakaway series back in 2009, im now seriously questioning the FIAs ability to successfully govern global motorsport. Is there a single series they run that they haven't damaged within the last few years?
 
Skeeter said:
Having been fully against an F1 breakaway series back in 2009, im now seriously questioning the FIAs ability to successfully govern global motorsport. Is there a single series they run that they haven't damaged within the last few years?
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In a way it's alright with me, I get to watch the European talent 'defect' to the Indycar ladder and test themselves against drivers from the Americas :p An increasing number of national series champions have done that over the last few years.

Oh, I forgot to mention yet another series starting up: http://www.paddockscout.com/matveev-and-zabolotnyaya-join-smp-by-euronova-in-italian-f4/

Not sure why Italian F4, Abarth, FR1.6 and FR2.0 Alps all need to exist at the same time, surely one or two of them would be sufficient?

Some more signings, this time in European F3 - Nicolas Latifi (managed by Anthony Hamilton) switches to Prema for the 2014 season: http://www.paddockscout.com/latifi-lands-prema-drive-for-2014-fia-f3-season/

Oscar Tunjo (a Lotus junior driver) will also contest the series with Signature: http://www.paddockscout.com/tunjo-confirmed-with-signature-for-fia-f3-step/
 
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Time for a round-up of the major stories:

Nick Yelloly will remain in GP3 but switch to Status Grand Prix. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112664)

Johnny Cecotto Jr signed with the Trident GP2 team. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112712)

Series rookies Oliver Rowland and Pierre Gasly led the morning and afternoon sessions, on day 1 of the collective Formula Renault 3.5 test at Aragon. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112653) Day 2 saw Carlos Sainz Jr set the best time, (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112665) while Sergey Sirotkin was fastest on the final day (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112690).

Carlin missed the test and have yet to sign any drivers for the 2014 season. (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112642)

The supporting Formula Renault Eurocup joined the test for 2 of the 3 days, with Kevin Jorg (http://www.paddockscout.com/josef-kaufmann-racings-kevin-jorg-ends-first-day-of-running-on-top/) and Andrea Pizzitola (http://www.paddockscout.com/pizzitola-on-top-in-final-session-of-aragon-test/) topping the timesheets respectively.
 
Time for another news round-up, starting with GP2. Felipe Nasr will be at Carlin for the 2014 season (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112814); Adrian Quaife-Hobbs moves to Rapax (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112778); Nathaniel Berthon has signed with Lazarus (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112797); and Stefano Coletti switches to Racing Engineering (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112824).

Two more drivers have signed with GP3 teams, with German F3 champion Marvin Kirchhofer joining ART Grand Prix (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112798); and Jimmy Eriksson moves to Koiranen (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112786).

At the recent Formula Renault Eurocup test held at Paul Ricard, Bruno Bonifacio broke the lap record for FR2.0 cars on day one (http://www.paddockscout.com/bonifacio-breaks-lap-record-on-day-one-of-paul-ricard-testing/) while Anthoine Hubert topped the second day's times (http://www.paddockscout.com/hubert-tops-afternoon-session-as-paul-ricard-eurocup-test-concludes/).

Over in European Formula 3, the additional driver signings were Felix Rosenqvist with Mucke Motorsport (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112806); Michele Beretta joins EuroInternational (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112753); Max Verstappen at Van Amersfoort Racing (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112758); Felipe Guimaraes at Double R (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112800); Tatiana Calderon at Signature (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112792); Mitchell Gilbert and John-Bryant Meisner with Fortec (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112802); and Santino Ferucci who will be the youngest driver in the series at age 15 (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112779).
 
At the first GP2 pre-season test in Abu Dhabi, Jolyon Palmer (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112850) was quickest on the first two days, while Jon Lancaster (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112889) set the fastest time on the final day. The test was marred by a heavy crash when Conor Daly had to take evasive action to avoid the slow car of Facundo Regalia (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112866). The series will have another three day test at Bahrain, which will also be the season opener on 5th April.

Marussia Manor Racing have confirmed their GP3 line-up for 2014; Patrick Kujala and Ryan Cullen will join for their second year in the series, while Dean Stoneman begins his first full season (http://www.gp3series.com/News/2014/March/Marussia-F1-Team-reveals-2014-GP3-Team-driver-line-up/). Santiago Urrutia joins Koiranen GP (http://www.gp3series.com/News/2014/March/Uruguayan-Santiago-Urrutia-joins-Koiranen-GP/); and Luis Sa Silva remains with Carlin for a second year (http://www.gp3series.com/News/2014/March/Sa-Silva-remains-with-Carlin-for-2014-GP3-Series/).

Hector Hurst will step up to European Formula 3 with the West-Tec team (http://www.paddockscout.com/hurst-joins-west-tec-for-fia-f3-european-championship/), bringing the total driver\car count to 29 for the 2014 season.

Bietske Visser, who has yet to announce her 2014 plans after being dropped from Red Bull's young driver program, topped the timesheets in Formula Renault Eurocup testing at Barcelona (http://www.paddockscout.com/visser-keeps-the-lead-to-end-day-one-of-catalunya-test-on-top/). Aurelien Panis set the best time on day two (http://www.paddockscout.com/panis-leads-final-session-of-eurocup-test-at-catalunya/).
 
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