Issue 10 - GP2 Series

TURNHERE19 SEPTEMBER 2008 GP2 SERIES Spa//MonzaCampos crownedAdrian Campos talksexclusively about histeam championship winChampion!Pantano secures drivers’ titleahead of Senna and di GrassiDOWNLOADPDF HEREGP2 Asia SeriesShanghai race previewPit gossipthe inside line on gp2Subscribe heresign up free to the e-zine

GP2 SERIES Spa//MonzaTop of the pileOnce again, the battle for the GP2 Series drivers’ went down to the last event of theseason. As the dust settled on a thrilling weekend’s racing at Italy’s historic Monzacircuit it was Giorgio Pantano whose name was being etched on the driver’s trophy.Giorgio Pantano, GP2 champion 2008. I like thesound of that - it’s great! I am very happy with thetitle, although it was a bit of shame about the racethat clinched it at Monza, because I was leading andvery much wanted to win on my home track. But thechampionship was the main aim, and that¹s whatwe’ve achieved.I have to say a great thank you to everyone onmy team, especially my mechanics, who did anexceptional job on my car this year. We didn’t haveone mechanical failure, and it’s the first year I haveever experienced that.The reliability is what made the difference for methis year and the way the team worked together.They made the difference and worked seriously hard,so they deserve this as much as me. They knew whatthey wanted to do, and they did it.Hitting the ground at paceThe good work started right from the beginning ofthe year when the team got the new chassis and putit in the windtunnel and the suspension rig. They dida very good job with that, which I realised when wetested at Paul Ricard because the car was already invery good shape. So we started with a very good carand only made little changes to make it even better.The result was clear, if it had gone better for me inValencia, Spa and Monza, then maybe I would havewon seven races this year!Big momentsEveryone before me who has won this titlehas gone to Formula 1. As far as my future isconcerned, people have always said to me “win thechampionship first, and then we will talk about theopportunity”. So, I am just waiting now. I will notwait long, I will wait a bit and then I will focus on mycareer elsewhere.The biggest moment in winning this title wasactually way back at the second race of the year, inIstanbul. After qualifying and the first race, I said tomyself: “I have never driven a car like that. It is myperfect car. A title winner.” This was the first year I’vescored a point in the first round, and from then on,we made result after resultThere was a problem in Monte Carlo, when I waspushed out, and in Budapest I was P7 in qualifyingbut besides that we were on the top all the time.My best race of the year was Silverstone. It wastotally perfect for me and the team. The way we setupthe car and used the Bridgestone tyres to theirbest was perfect.And I guess the low point was Valencia, becauseI still can’t believe what happened. I dominated thatrace, only to run out of fuel in the final metres. Thatwas difficult to deal with.This year, the others called me the granddad. Butthe granddad is still winning the races and now he’swon the championship. I am still hungry and I want tokeep showing what I can do.For all the latest news log on to:www.gp2SERIES.com02 2008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza

Adrian campos on winning the team titleCampos was celebrating its first GP2 Seriestitle in Italy. Team principle Adrian Camposdiscusses trophies, plans and how theressurection of a GP2 force helped them along.How important is winning the teams’ title forBarwa International Campos Team?“For us, and for me, it’s very important. Winningin GP2 is something very special, because it’sthe biggest and most important championshipoutside Formula 1. To win this title after fouryears of trying is a huge accomplishmentfor this team. Now we have won everychampionship in which we have competed overQ&ARomain grosjeanRomain Grosjean was oneof GP2’s most impressiverookies in 2008Having won the inaugural GP2 Asia titlein April, ART rookie Romain Grosjeancontinued an impressive year withvictory in the Spa feature race.To win a GP2 feature race at Spa musthave felt fantastic?“Oh yes, finally we won one. We should havewon so many more races this year, but I hadbad luck or made a mistake. It was a reallylong time without winning a race, so for meand the team it was a great feeling.”12 years, which I am very proud of.I think it shows we have done our jobin the correct way.”What has the key to success been?“Four years ago I decided, based on myexperience of 25 years in racing, that somepeople can’t work together. For instance, Italianand English people are quite impossible to worktogether because they are so different. But Iwas convinced that the British method work inmotorsport could work with the Spanish. Mytechnical director is Chris Murphy, and he hasdone a great job along with my engineers andmechanics, most of whom are Spanish. It is theway they work together that is the key.”Bringing Lucas di Grassi back to GP2 was amasterstroke, wasn’t it?“Of course. I have to admit Lucas surprisedme. His personality, his speed and hisprofessionalism have been so much more thanI expected. He knows exactly what he wants,and the way he caught Pantano and Senna,overtaking everyone else in the championship,was unbelievable.”What is the future plan?“To continue in the same way, to win races anddo our job next season like we did this year.”Was it a hard race to win with thechanging track conditions?“It started wet, then it dried and… it wastypical Spa – the most difficult track in theworld for so many reasons. It’s also the mostbeautiful as well, so to win there felt brilliant.”Did the conditions come to you?“Yes. We set the car up for the dry conditionsthat we knew would come at the end. Thatwas very hard on wet tyres early on, but itwas the right decision. The car was fantasticas the track dried. We had a really bad freepractice, P16, because I hadn’t driven at Spasince 2004 in Formula Renault. So it wasgreat to come back from that position.”How important is your championshipposition?“For sure, the target was always to finish onthe podium at the end of the year. We hadbad weekends in Hungary and Valencia, andlost 15 points, which would have made mylife so much easier. I just tried to do my bestand not feel the pressure to perform.”CLICK HERE forRomain’s profileGOOD MONTHCamposJust three rounds ago, theCampos outfit was third in theteam standings, a full 29 pointsadrift of leaders iSport. But, aperfectly-timed surge of form fromVitaly Petrov saw them snatch theteam title on the last weekend ofthe season.Giorgio pantanoAfter 23 podiums and nine winsin his four years of GP2 racing,29-year-old Pantano finally has hisname on the drivers trophy. It didn’tcome easy though, the Italianpicked up just five points from thelast four races.Davide ValsecchiThe Italian Durango driver hashad a painful, staccato season.Ruled out through injury after aheavy crash in Turkey, and brieflyhospitalised for a second timeafter the Spa feature race, hissprint race win on home soil atMonza was the perfect tonic.iSportHaving arrived at Monza capableof taking the team and drivertitles, iSport left Italy second inboth. Bruno Senna bagged justsix points from the last four races,while Karun Chandhok has faredeven worse, not scoring since theHungarian feature race.Sakon YamamotoWhile team-mate RomainGrosjean picked up a feature racewin in Spa followed by fourthand third in Italy, Yamamoto wasforced to retire from three of thismonth’s four races.BAD MONTH2008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza 03

GP2 SERIES Spa//MonzaTop-classdrivers uniteFormula 1 drivers Nico Rosberg, Mark Webber,Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet and KazukiNakajima came together with the entire GP2 gridat Monza in support of the Gonzalo RodriguezMemorial Foundation (GRMF).The drivers were all present in the GP2 paddockon Thursday of the race weekend to sign apainting created by Canadian artist Bill Patterson.The piece was then auctioned on Sunday night,with the proceeds going towards a range of goodcauses that the GRMF supports in Uruguay.“It was great to have so many top F1 and GP2drivers here to lend their support,” explainedGP2 press officer Alexa Quintin. “The GonzaloRodriguez Foundation is a very worthy causeand today highlights the strong links betweenthe GP2 Series and F1 racing.”Navarro named aswinning e-reporterFrench student Guillaume Navarrowas crowned winner of the 2008Bridgestone e-reporter competitionat the GP2 season-end prize-givingceremony at Monza.This year marked the fifthanniversary of the competition,which gives a platform toaspiring motorsport journalists.Bridgestone celebrated theanniversary by inviting all previouse-reporter finalists to Monza.A total of 31 graduates werepresent in Italy to watch Navarrocollect his award.“Being the winner of the 2008Bridgestone e-reporter contestgives me a great sense ofachievement,” explained the 23-year-old Navarro.“In the same way GP2 isFormula 1’s strongest feederseries, the Bridgestone e-reportercompetition represents a uniquechance for young, aspiringmotorsport journalists to maketheir way to the paddock.”Navarro was chosen from ninefinalists based on his written workand interview technique.“It is a great honour to crown yetanother talented Bridgestone e-reporter,” said Franco Annunziato,director of Bridgestone’s Europeantechnical centre.“As we celebrate five years ofthe competition this year, we lookforward to the future by continuingour commitment to education andsupporting young talents.”Click here for more informationGP2 Series awardwinners 2008Karun Chandhok won the 2008 bestdriving style award at the GP2 Series2008 prize-giving. The title was decidedby a public vote through the GP2 website(www.gp2series.com) and was part of theseries’ end-of-season roll of honour, whichrecognises a number of driver and teamachievements across the season.Other winners included iSport’s BrunoSenna, who was named most improveddriver, ART’s Romain Grosjean, whopicked up the best rookie title and RacingEngineering’s Giorgio Pantano whose passon Grosjean in the Silverstone feature racewon best overtking manoeuvre. For theteams, Piquet Sports won best race strategy,and iSport best engineered team.From theGP2SERIES.COMBlogIt was not long afterwards thatwe found out about Giorgio’sexclusion from the event, and thepaddock was in uproar. Exceptfor the man himself, who had leftthe circuit for the casino in Spa insearch of a change in his luck, andZuber, who had lost a hard foughtpodium because of illegal repairsto his nosecone carried out by theteam, handing third to Maldonado.It’s hard to know what he wasmore upset about: the loss of thepodium, or the recipient.The next morning Zuber wasstill upset, playing the martyrcard to anyone who would listen:“Look, there’s only 25 guys in thisrace, but they’ve put me 26th onthe grid!” he laughed when theofficial grid was released, and sureenough he was right.See blog.gp2series.caradisiac.com04 2008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza

paddock PASS gp2 News you can’t get anywhere elseThe stewards have been kept busyrecently, handing out no less than10 penalties in the last four roundsof racing. So when a couple ofGP2 staff got hold of the pressconference radio mic and decidedto have a bit of fun with Spa featurerace winner Romain Grosjean thechoice of material was obvious.“Paging Romain Grosjean, RomainGrosjean to the steward’s officeplease. This is the last call, RomainGrosjean to the stewards officeplease.” The Frenchman lookedaround frantically before spottingthe pranksters and replying with anunprintable hand gesture…From what Paddock Passheard after race one inValencia, half the GP2 driverswere rather disappointedas they lined up on thegrid. Not with their startingpositions, but with their gridgirls…who were actually gridboys. A commendable movetoward equality by the eventorganisers but not one thatwas entirely appreciated byGP2’s finest “They betterhave a girl for Bruno!”laughed Bianca Senna. Theydidn’t and Bruno sufferedone of his worst results ofthe season...The GP2 drivers came together at the last raceof the season to sign the pictured print. Alongwith their autographs they each penned theirthoughts on “solidarity”, the theme of thisyear’s charity auction, before the canvas wasput up for sale with a 2000 Euro reserve.AWAYFROMTHETRACKSÉbastiEn Buemi,clubbing itI’ve been living in England since January in MiltonKeynes, near the Red Bull Racing factory, so I decidedto take up golf.I always play with another Red Bull JuniorTeam driver, Brendon Hartley, who is racingvery well in British Formula 3 this year.To hit the ball well and constant is verydifficult – I always hit it to the rightwhen I tee off!We also play a bit of tennis together,because that is good for co-ordinationand keeps you on your toes.The golf is a harder game and inbetween training sessions I find it’s verygood for the concentration.Competition between Brendon and I is always good,and it’s like that when I go back to Austria for fitnesstests at the Red Bull centre.I have to push hard on that front, because whenyou’re up against guys racing in the lower categories,you’ve got to be on top. I can’t have anyone from F3or Formula Renault beating me!It’s a good life being a racing driver for Red Bull andI get to do a lot of the F1 shakedowns as well as raceGP2. It means I’m quite busy, but in between that andthe training sessions, this is where the golf fits in.Hopefully, by the beginning of next year, I will begood enough to have an official golf handicap. I reallyneed to improve my tee shots. But it’s a good releaseto go on the golf range and hit some balls as hard as Ican if I’ve had a bad race weekend!CLICK HERE forBuemi’s profile2008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza 05

GP2 SERIES Spa//Monzarace reportCLICK HEREfor raceimagesBELGIUMSPA (September 6-7)First GP2 Series feature win for Grosjean as titlerivals Pantano, Senna and di Grassi all stumbleFeature race (26 laps)1 Romain Grosjean (ART)2 Álvaro Parente (Super Nova)3 Pastor Maldonado (Piquet)4 Vitaly Petrov (Campos)5 Sébastien Buemi (Arden)6 Andy Soucek (Super Nova)7 Mike Conway (Trident)8 Jérôme D’Ambrosio (Dams)Fastest lap Romain GrosjeanPole position Bruno SennaDiego Nunes of DPR exits thefamous Eau Rouge cornerSprint race (18 laps)1 Pastor Maldonado (Piquet)2 Jérôme D’Ambrosio (Dams)3 Vitaly Petrov (Campos)4 Sébastien Buemi (Arden)5 Lucas di Grassi (Campos)6 Davide Valsecchi (Durango)7 Karun Chandhok (iSport)8 Javier Villa (Racing Eng.)Fastest lap Pastor MaldonadoPole position Jérôme D’AmbrosioReigning GP2 Asia championRomain Grosjean secured hisfirst GP2 Series feature racewin in a chaotic weekendat the Spa-Francorchampscircuit. Meanwhile, drivers’championship front-runner,Racing Engineering’s GiorgioPantano, was excluded fromboth races.ART rookie Grosjean wentahead of Alvaro Parenteand into first with five lapsremaining before pulling outa 4.1s lead Piquet SportsAndreas Zuber came in third– a position he would later bestripped of due to a technicalinfringement.Behind the trio, advantagein the title chase swung backand forth between Pantanoand iSport’s Bruno Senna.Starting on pole, Senna hadbeen leading the race beforehe was handed a drivethroughpenalty for an unsaferelease from the pits, leavingPantano in first. But, theItalian’s luck abandoned himwhen his engine reverted tosafe mode dropping him backto eighth. An over-zealousfight-back from the Italianended in a crash with Lucas diGrassi, which in turn led to anunprecedented exclusion fromthe sprint race.However, Senna failedto capitalise on Pantano’sabsence in race two,spinning out on lap nine.Third overall, di Grassi closedthe championship gap withfifth place, but it was PastorMaldonado who took the sprintrace spoils overtaking raceleader Jérôme d’Ambrosio withjust half a lap left. Campos’Vitaly Petrov finished third.ItalyMONZA (September 13-14)CLICK HEREfor raceimagesDi Grassi keeps winning, Valsecchi lands dreamhome victory and Pantano and Campos secure titlesCampos’ Lucas di Grassi won Pantano meanwhile coulda frantic wet/dry race one at only manage 10th, but withMonza as Giorgio Pantano of iSport’s Bruno Senna scoringRacing Engineering secured the just four points, the Italian’sdrivers’ title without scoring a overall lead was securepoint in his home feature race. regardless of what happened inStarting from pole, the the sprint race on Sunday.Italian led for the first 26 laps But one man race twoand looked odds-on for a certainly did matter to wascomfortable podium finish Davide Valsecchi. Driving forbefore he was given a drivethroughpenalty for exiting the in his home event, Valsecchithe Italian Durango team, andpitlane illegally.secured his maiden GP2 victoryWith just five laps left, with a convincing nine seconddi Grassi held off a strong cushion over second placedchallenge from Piquet Sport’s Roldán Rodríguez of FMS.Pastor Maldonado for his third Valsecchi’s win marked thewin of the season. Sebastién perfect end to a tough yearBuemi rounded off the podium during which he has beenin a distant third.hospitalised by two big shunts.Chicanes - GP2 styleFeature race (32 laps)1 Lucas Di Grassi (Campos)2 Pastor Maldonado (Piquet)3 Sébastien Buemi (Arden)4 Romain Grosjean (ART)5 Bruno Senna (iSport)6 Roldán Rodríguez (FMS)7 Jérôme D’Ambrosio (Dams)8 Davide Valsecchi (Durango)Fastest lap Mike ConwayPole position Giorgio PantanoSprint race (21 laps)1 Davide Valsecchi (Durango)2 Roldán Rodríguez (FMS)3 Romain Grosjean (ART)4 Pastor Maldonado (Piquet)5 Giorgio Pantano (Racing Eng.)6 Jérôme D’Ambrosio (Dams)7 Sébastien Buemi (Arden)8 Bruno Senna (iSport)Fastest lap Andy SoucekPole position Davide Valsecchi06 2008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza

Shanghai, China PreviewDatesTrack lengthWebsite18-19 October5.451km (3.387 miles)www.icsh.sh.cnThe Shanghai event isone of three F1 supportraces on the new calendarStayAs one of the tallestbuildings in the city,the ultra-modern RoyalMeridien Shanghai (www.starwoodhotels.com) isstill a landmark in thisincreasingly populatedskyline. The interior isequally as impressive.The GP2 Asia season 08/09 roars into actionon October 19 with a debut event at the Shanghaicircuit in China.ART driver Sakon Yamamoto offers up hislowdown on what promises to be an exciting firstouting in the six race calendar.“I have raced at Shanghai twice in Formula 1, forSuper Aguri in 2006 and Spyker in 2007, and it’s aperfect addition to the GP2 Asia calendar.There is always a great atmosphere at the ChineseGrand Prix, and I think the racing will be very good,there are two long straights where the cars will getup to a very high speed. There are a couple of quickcorners, including the banked one before the backstraight – not many circuits have one of these!Turn one is also very unique, because it is nota straightforward hairpin. The entry speed is veryhigh, and you have to take the speed off as youcorner, but it is important how much speed you carrythrough there for the next sequence of corners.I think there can be a lot of overtaking with theGP2 car, and it’s a big circuit that I think will suit thecar very well. I am hoping to be on the grid, althoughit is not finalised yet, and I am expecting a veryinteresting race. It will be a great way to start thesecond season of GP2 Asia.”EatShanghai offers anincreasingly diversechoice in food, butperhaps the best optionis still local Sichuancuisine or simple dimsum and tea. Din TaiFung (www.dintaifung.com.tw/eng/) has greatexamples of both.SeeFor many, the Bundis Shanghai’s biggestattraction. The westembankment of theHuangpu River, andpart of the old town, it issteeped in history.GP2 Asia calendarOct 18/19 - ShanghaiDec 5/6 - DubaiJan 23/24 - BahrainFeb 27/28 - DubaiApr 4/5 - SepangApr 18/19 - BahrainGP2 SERIES final standingsDrivers’ Championship01 Giorgio Pantano 7602 Bruno Senna 6403 Lucas di Grassi 6304 Romain Grosjean 6205 Pastor Maldonado 6006 Sébastien Buemi 5007 Vitaly Petrov 3908 Álvaro Parente 3409 Andreas Zuber 3210 Karun Chandhok 3111 Jérôme D’Ambrosio 2112 Mike Conway 2013 Roldán Rodríguez 1414 Andy Soucek 1415 Davide Valsecchi 1116 Kamui Kobayashi 1017 Javier Villa 818 Ho Pin Tung 719 Luca Filippi 620 Adrián Vallés 521 Diego Nunes 322 Sakon Yamamoto 323 Alberto Valério 024 Carlos Iaconelli 025 Marko Asmer 026 Michael Herck 0Team Championship01 Barwa International Campos Team 10302 iSport International 9503 Piquet Sports 9204 Racing Engineering 8405 ART Grand Prix 7006 Trust Team Arden 5607 Super Nova Racing 4708 Dams 3109 Trident Racing 2710 FMS International 1511 Durango 1112 BCN Competicion 513 DPR 42008 GP2 Series Spa//Monza 07