2011 Gp2 Series

Thirteen teams competed over a nine event series that run from 7 May at Istanbul Park in Turkey to September 11 at Monza in Italy. The series again performed the role of a series for developing emerging young drivers, acting as the principal supporting motor racing series that fills in time between sessions of the nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix that are held in Europe. The championship was won by reigning GP2 Asia champion Romain Grosjean at the penultimate round of the series. Luca Filippi, Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic were all divided just by two points in their battle for the second, third and fourth places respectively. Christian Vietoris, Davide Valsecchi, Stefano Coletti, Esteban Gutiérrez and Fabio Leimer was the other race winners.

Following a three-year cycle, the previous GP2 chassis was replaced by a brand new car, the GP2/11, built by Italian racing car manufacturer Dallara. The engine configuration remained the same until the end of the 2017 season, with the only modifications being to the exhaust systems. The series changed tyre supplier from Bridgestone to Pirelli for 2011–13. The 2011 season saw the addition of two new teams to the grid, Carlin and Team AirAsia. Meanwhile, DPR was not selected to continue in the series.

On 22 November 2010 it was announced that Renault would no longer badge their Mecachrome GP2 Series engines, instead Mecachrome would run its own engine program from 2011 onwards. All GP2 Series cars had a reverse gear for the first time in the series.

  This section lists drivers who competed in the regular season. For the drivers who competed in the non-championship race in Abu Dhabi, see 2011 GP2 Final.

Team	No.	Driver name	Rounds
Rapax	1	Fabio Leimer	All
	2	Julián Leal	All
Barwa Addax Team	3	Charles Pic	All
	4	Giedo van der Garde	All
Lotus ART	5	Jules Bianchi	All
	6	Esteban Gutiérrez	All
Racing Engineering	7	Dani Clos	All
	8	Christian Vietoris	1, 4–9
		Álvaro Parente	2–3
iSport International	9	Sam Bird	All
	10	Marcus Ericsson	All
DAMS	11	Romain Grosjean	All
	12	Pål Varhaug	All
Arden International	14	Josef Král	All
	15	Jolyon Palmer	All
Super Nova Racing	16	Fairuz Fauzy	All
	17	Luca Filippi	1–5
		Adam Carroll	6–9
Scuderia Coloni	18	Michael Herck	All
	19	Davide Rigon	1
		Kevin Ceccon	2–5
		Luca Filippi	6–9
Trident Racing	20	Rodolfo González	All
	21	Stefano Coletti	1–8
		Stéphane Richelmi	9
Ocean Racing Technology	22	Kevin Mirocha	1–7
		Brendon Hartley	8–9
	23	Johnny Cecotto Jr.	All
Carlin	24	Max Chilton	All
	25	Mikhail Aleshin	1–2, 7–8
		Oliver Turvey	3
		Álvaro Parente	4–6, 9
Team AirAsia (1–3)   Caterham Team AirAsia (4–9)	26	Luiz Razia	All
	27	Davide Valsecchi	All

Team changes

• David Price Racing left GP2, while Carlin and Team AirAsia joined the series, filling the vacancies left by DPR and Durango (who left ahead of the 2010 season).
• Lotus Cars lent its name to ART Grand Prix in a similar arrangement to their sponsorship of Takuma Sato and KV Racing Technology in the IndyCar Series, while Team Lotus is behind the new Team AirAsia outfit. Aside from the name, there is no crossover between Lotus ART and Team Air Asia.

Driver changes

Changed teams

• Sam Bird moved to iSport International after competing in his rookie season for ART Grand Prix. He partnered Marcus Ericsson, who moves over from Super Nova Racing.
• Johnny Cecotto Jr. switched from Trident Racing to Ocean Racing Technology, having competed for Trident in the first eight meetings of the 2010 season.
• Max Chilton moved from Ocean Racing Technology to be part of Carlin's inaugural GP2 pairing.
• Rodolfo González returned to Trident Racing after a season with Arden International. González drove for Trident at the German round in 2009.
• After driving for DPR for most of his GP2 career to date, Michael Herck moved to Scuderia Coloni.
• After driving for Super Nova Racing in his rookie season, Josef Král switched to Arden International.
• Fabio Leimer moved from Ocean Racing Technology to Rapax.
• Charles Pic switched from Arden International to partner Giedo van der Garde at Barwa Addax.
• Luiz Razia moved from team's champions Rapax to debutants Team Air Asia. Davide Valsecchi joined him after a season with iSport International.

Entering/Re-Entering GP2 Series

• Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Mikhail Aleshin has extended his collaboration with Carlin for GP2, making a return to GP2 after contesting two meetings in 2007 with ART Grand Prix.
• Stefano Coletti returned to the series with Trident Racing, having competed in two rounds in 2009 for Durango.
• Fairuz Fauzy made his comeback to the series with Super Nova Racing, the team that Fauzy competed with in 2006 and also in the 2008 Asia Series.
• GP3 Series champion Esteban Gutiérrez moved up to GP2 with Lotus ART, having raced for the team in GP3.
• Julián Leal made his debut in the series with Rapax, having finished 20th in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for International DracoRacing.
• After a part season in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, Kevin Mirocha graduated into GP2 with Ocean Racing Technology.
• FIA Formula Two Championship runner-up Jolyon Palmer joined Arden International.
• Davide Rigon returned to the series with Scuderia Coloni, having driven for Trident Racing in 2009.
• Pål Varhaug moved up from the GP3 Series to drive for DAMS.

Leaving GP2

• 2010 champion Pastor Maldonado will from Rapax to compete in Formula One with Williams alongside Rubens Barrichello.
• Jérôme d'Ambrosio left DAMS to compete in Formula One for Virgin Racing alongside former GP2 Champion Timo Glock, having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010.
• Sergio Pérez moved from Barwa Addax to compete in Formula One with Sauber alongside former Asia Series champion Kamui Kobayashi.
• Ho-Pin Tung moved to the IndyCar Series as a part-time entry with Dragon Racing, and failed to qualify for the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
• Alberto Valerio returned to his native Brazil to compete in the Copa Caixa Stock Car series.
• Adrian Zaugg moved to Auto GP, but completed only one event in 2011.

Midseason Changes

• A number of midseason changes were also made during the season, to replace other drivers. Scuderia Coloni's Davide Rigon suffered stable fractures of the tibia and fibula in an accident with Julián Leal in Istanbul. He was replaced by Kevin Ceccon in Montmeló and Monaco after Vietoris' accident in Istanbul left him suffering from severe headaches. He continued with his campaign in DTM despite this, and returned to GP2 in time for the Valencia round.
• For Monaco, Oliver Turvey made his return to the category, replacing Mikhail Aleshin at Carlin. Turvey was later replaced by Álvaro Parente in Valencia. Aleshin returned at the Hungaroring, as Parente had a prior commitment to compete for McLaren at the Spa 24 Hours.
• Prior to the round at the Nürburgring, Kevin Ceccon left Scuderia Coloni to concentrate on Auto GP. He was replaced by fellow Auto GP racer Luca Filippi from Super Nova Racing. Filippi's vacated seat was taken by Adam Carroll, who returned to the series after participating between 2005 and 2008. Ceccon later returned to the team for the non-championship round in Abu Dhabi.
• For the round held at Spa-Francorchamps, Brendon Hartley replaced Kevin Mirocha in the Ocean Racing Technology team.
• For the round held at Monza, the injured Stefano Coletti was replaced by Stéphane Richelmi.

The 2011 calendar was announced on 21 December 2010. The series will consist of nine rounds, one less than in 2010, as the Abu Dhabi round will return to the GP2 Asia Series and will not be replaced. It will support all the European Formula One events.

On 12 July 2011, it was announced that a non-championship round will take place in Abu Dhabi under the name 2011 GP2 Final.

Round		Location	Circuit	Date	Time		Tyres	Supporting
					Local	UTC
1	F	Istanbul, Turkey	Istanbul Park	7 May	15:40	12:40	Medium	Turkish Grand Prix
	S			8 May	11:35	08:35
2	F	Montmeló, Spain	Circuit de Catalunya	21 May	15:40	13:40	Hard	Spanish Grand Prix
	S			22 May	10:35	08:35
3	F	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Circuit de Monaco	27 May	11:15	09:15	Super Soft	Monaco Grand Prix
	S			28 May	16:30	14:30
4	F	Valencia, Spain	Valencia Street Circuit	25 June	15:40	13:40	Soft	European Grand Prix
	S			26 June	10:35	08:35
5	F	Silverstone, Great Britain	Silverstone Circuit	9 July	14:40	13:40	Medium	British Grand Prix
	S			10 July	09:30	08:30
6	F	Nürburg, Germany	Nürburgring	23 July	15:40	13:40	Soft	German Grand Prix
	S			24 July	10:30	08:30
7	F	Mogyoród, Hungary	Hungaroring	30 July	15:40	13:40	Soft	Hungarian Grand Prix
	S			31 July	10:30	08:30
8	F	Stavelot, Belgium	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	27 August	15:40	13:40	Medium	Belgian Grand Prix
	S			28 August	10:30	08:30
9	F	Monza, Italy	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	10 September	15:40	13:40	Hard	Italian Grand Prix
	S			11 September	10:30	08:30
NC	F	Yas Island, Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina Circuit	12 November	?	?	Medium	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
	S			13 November	?	?

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.

Feature race points

Sprint race points

Points are awarded to the top 6 classified finishers.

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver IST   CAT   MON   VAL   SIL   NÜR   HUN   SPA   MNZ   Points 1   Romain Grosjean 1 10 DSQ 9 4 3 1 Ret 4 1 3 1 1 3 3 4 3 21 89 2   Luca Filippi Ret 14 Ret Ret 3 4 Ret 15 13 12 1 3 6 Ret 4 1 1 5 54 3   Jules Bianchi 3 7 7 Ret Ret 19 Ret 7 1 5 4 2 7 6 2 2 8 3 53 4   Charles Pic 7 4 1 19 8 1 Ret Ret 11 10 2 DSQ 2 13 Ret 19 2 Ret 52 5   Giedo van der Garde 4 2 2 Ret Ret 9 2 3 8 3 6 Ret 4 4 Ret 20 21 13 49 6   Sam Bird 2 3 3 5 Ret 13 5 12 5 6 8 7 17 5 12 5 4 4 45 7   Christian Vietoris 11 Ret Ret 13 2 7 Ret 4 8 10 1 13 6 1 35 8   Davide Valsecchi 16 16 4 4 1 5 3 4 14 17 13 Ret 16 14 10 10 20 Ret 30 9   Dani Clos 8 15 6 2 Ret 18 4 5 6 2 7 Ret 10 Ret 6 6 13 7 30 10   Marcus Ericsson 9 8 5 3 Ret Ret Ret 11 3 4 5 16† 5 16 Ret 12 14 8 25 11   Stefano Coletti 5 1 10 20† 5 Ret 17 19† 7 22 Ret Ret 21 1 Ret DNS 22 12   Luiz Razia 6 18 Ret Ret Ret 20 6 2 17 14 Ret 14 3 7 Ret Ret 10 9 19 13   Esteban Gutiérrez Ret 11 Ret 12 12 DNS 7 1 10 8 12 Ret Ret 2 14 7 9 6 15 14   Fabio Leimer Ret 20 8 1 9 7 Ret 14 15 11 DSQ 8 11 11 Ret Ret 7 2 15 15   Josef Král 13 6 9 21† 6 2 8 Ret 23 20 18 11 9 17 8 3 Ret 17 15 16   Álvaro Parente 11 7 2 16 Ret 18 9 9 20† Ret 12 12 8 17   Adam Carroll 15 5 19 12 9 11 5 11 6 18   Fairuz Fauzy 12 5 14 6 15† 10 16 16 21 15 16 12 Ret Ret 7 21 18 Ret 5 19   Brendon Hartley 5 9 22 20 4 20   Max Chilton Ret 17 12 11 7 6 Ret Ret Ret 19 17 6 18 Ret 15 16 Ret 18 4 21   Michael Herck 14 12 Ret Ret 13 15 10 6 24 18 11 10 12 Ret 16 15 Ret DNS 1 22   Kevin Mirocha 15† 19 21† 16 10 Ret 12 8 DNS DNS Ret 13 14 8 0 23   Pål Varhaug 18 21 15 8 Ret 21 13 10 16 23 Ret 17 13 Ret 13 18 11 10 0 24   Johnny Cecotto Jr. Ret 13 14 13 Ret 17 14 17 12 Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 11 8 17 15 0 25   Oliver Turvey 14 8 0 26   Rodolfo González Ret 22 20 10 Ret 14 15 Ret 18 13 9 15 Ret 9 Ret 17 19 16 0 27   Julián Leal 19 Ret 17 14 Ret Ret 11 9 22 21 14 9 20 Ret Ret Ret 16 Ret 0 28   Jolyon Palmer 17 9 18 17 NC 11 9 Ret 20 16 19 Ret 22 18† Ret 14 Ret 19 0 29   Davide Rigon 10 Ret 0 30   Kevin Ceccon 19 15 11 12 18 20† 19 Ret 0 31   Stéphane Richelmi 15 14 0 32   Mikhail Aleshin DNS DNS 16 18 15 15 Ret Ret 0 Pos Driver IST   CAT   MON   VAL   SIL   NÜR   HUN   SPA   MNZ   Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Teams' Championship

Pos Team No. IST   CAT   MON   VAL   SIL   NÜR   HUN   SPA   MNZ   Points 1   Barwa Addax Team 3 7 4 1 19 8 1 Ret Ret 11 10 2 DSQ 2 13 Ret 19 2 Ret 101 4 4 2 2 Ret Ret 9 2 3 8 3 6 Ret 4 4 Ret 20 21 13 2   DAMS 11 1 10 DSQ 9 4 3 1 Ret 4 1 3 1 1 3 3 4 3 21 89 12 18 21 15 8 Ret 21 13 10 16 23 Ret 17 13 Ret 13 18 11 10 3   Racing Engineering 7 8 15 6 2 Ret 18 4 5 6 2 7 Ret 10 Ret 6 6 13 7 73 8 11 Ret 11 7 2 16 Ret 13 2 7 Ret 4 8 10 1 13 6 1 4   iSport International 9 2 3 3 5 Ret 13 5 12 5 6 8 7 17 5 12 5 4 4 70 10 9 8 5 3 Ret Ret Ret 11 3 4 5 16† 5 16 Ret 12 14 8 5   Lotus ART 5 3 7 7 Ret Ret 19 Ret 7 1 5 4 2 7 6 2 2 8 3 68 6 Ret 11 Ret 12 12 DNS 7 1 10 8 12 Ret Ret 2 14 7 9 6 6   Team AirAsia (1–3)   Caterham Team AirAsia (4–9) 26 6 18 Ret Ret Ret 20 6 2 17 14 Ret 14 3 7 Ret Ret 10 9 49 27 16 16 4 4 1 5 3 4 14 17 13 Ret 16 14 10 10 20 Ret 7   Scuderia Coloni 18 14 12 Ret Ret 13 15 10 6 24 18 11 10 12 Ret 16 15 Ret DNS 46 19 10 Ret 19 15 11 12 18 20† 19 Ret 1 3 6 Ret 4 1 1 5 8   Trident Racing 20 Ret 22 17 10 Ret 14 15 Ret 18 13 9 15 Ret 9 Ret 17 19 16 22 21 5 1 10 20† 5 Ret 17 19† 7 22 Ret Ret 21 1 Ret DNS 15 14 9   Super Nova Racing 16 12 5 13 6 15† 10 16 16 21 15 16 12 Ret Ret 7 21 18 Ret 20 17 Ret 14 Ret Ret 3 4 Ret 15 13 12 15 5 19 12 9 11 5 11 10   Rapax 1 Ret 20 8 1 9 7 Ret 14 15 11 DSQ 8 11 11 Ret Ret 7 2 15 2 19 Ret 17 14 Ret Ret 11 9 22 21 14 9 20 Ret Ret Ret 16 Ret 11   Arden International 14 13 6 9 21† 6 2 8 Ret 23 20 18 11 9 17 8 3 Ret 17 15 15 17 9 18 17 NC 11 9 Ret 20 16 19 Ret 22 18† Ret 14 Ret 19 12   Ocean Racing Technology 22 15† 19 21† 16 10 Ret 12 8 DNS DNS Ret 13 14 8 5 9 22 20 4 23 Ret 13 14 13 Ret 17 14 17 12 Ret 10 Ret Ret Ret 11 8 17 15 13   Carlin 24 Ret 17 12 11 7 6 Ret Ret Ret 19 17 6 18 Ret 15 16 Ret 18 4 25 DNS DNS 16 18 14 8 Ret 18 9 9 20† Ret 15 15 Ret Ret 12 12 Pos Team No. IST   CAT   MON   VAL   SIL   NÜR   HUN   SPA   MNZ   Points

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Other points position Blue Other classified position Not classified, finished (NC) Purple Not classified, retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Excluded (EX) Did not arrive (DNA) Withdrawn (WD) Text formatting Meaning Bold Pole position point(s) Italics Fastest lap point(s)

Notes:

• † — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.