2011 GP2 Asia Series

The 2011 GP2 Asia Series was the fourth and final season of the GP2 Asia Series, and the second to be held entirely in a single calendar year. Rather than starting at the end of 2010 and running through the winter as with the previous two seasons of GP2 Asia, the 2011 season did not start until the beginning of February, to allow for the delivery of the brand new GP2/11 car to the teams and allow for testing before using it in the Asia Series. Previously the Asia Series had used the first generation GP2 car. The season also saw the début of three teams in the Series: two new teams, Carlin and Team Air Asia, as well as Racing Engineering, who had not competed in the Asia Series since its establishment.[1]

2011 GP2 Asia Series
Previous:	2009–10	Next:	none

The season was originally scheduled for six races to be held at three meetings, beginning on 11 February at the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates, and finishing on 13 March at the Bahrain International Circuit.[2] However, both meetings due to be held in Bahrain, scheduled for 17–19 February and 11–13 March, were cancelled due to anti-government protests in the country's capital, Manama.[3] On 1 March 2011, series organisers added a replacement final round of the Asia Series, to be held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy on 19–20 March.[4]

Inaugural Asia Series champion Romain Grosjean of the DAMS team won the championship for the second time after title rival Jules Bianchi of Lotus ART was taken out of the final race by Super Nova Racing's Fairuz Fauzy. Giedo van der Garde finished third for the Barwa Addax Team, taking podiums in both races at Imola. As well as feature race victories apiece for Grosjean and Bianchi, sprint race victories were taken by Stefano Coletti of Trident Racing and Dani Clos of Racing Engineering. As well as Grosjean's drivers' championship win, DAMS also claimed the teams' championship by three points from Lotus ART.

Entry list

Team	No.	Driver name	Rounds
iSport International[1]	1	Marcus Ericsson[5]	All
	2	Sam Bird[5]	All
Arden International[1]	3	Josef Král[6]	All
	4	Jolyon Palmer[6]	All
Lotus ART[1][7]	5	Jules Bianchi[8]	All
	6	Esteban Gutiérrez[9]	All
Super Nova Racing[1]	7	Fairuz Fauzy[10]	All
	8	Johnny Cecotto Jr.[11]	All
DAMS[1]	9	Romain Grosjean[12]	All
	10	Pål Varhaug[12]	All
Scuderia Coloni[1]	11	Michael Herck[13]	All
	12	James Jakes[14]	1
		Luca Filippi[15]	2
Ocean Racing Technology[1]	14	Andrea Caldarelli[16]	All
	15	Oliver Turvey[16]	All
Barwa Addax Team[1]	16	Charles Pic[17]	All
	17	Giedo van der Garde[17]	All
Trident Racing[1]	18	Stefano Coletti[8]	All
	19	Rodolfo González[18]	All
Rapax[1]	20	Fabio Leimer[19]	All
	21	Julián Leal[20]	All
Racing Engineering[1]	22	Nathanaël Berthon[21]	All
	23	Dani Clos[21]	All
Carlin[1]	24	Mikhail Aleshin[22]	All
	25	Max Chilton[22]	All
Team AirAsia[1]	26	Luiz Razia[23]	All
	27	Davide Valsecchi[23]	All

Calendar

The calendar was announced on 7 October 2010, with three rounds to be held in February and March, down from four in 2009–2010. Organisers explained the reduction of the calendar as being necessary because of the need to deliver the brand-new Dallara GP2/11 chassis to all teams. Yas Marina hosted the season-opening event, before two scheduled meetings in Bahrain.[2] The Bahrain events were subsequently cancelled due to civil unrest in the country, and was later replaced by a special event to be held at Imola.[24] The race in Abu Dhabi was the first time the GP2/11 chassis was used.

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Report
1	R1	Yas Marina Circuit	11 February	Romain Grosjean	Jules Bianchi	Jules Bianchi	Lotus ART	Report
	R2		12 February		Jules Bianchi	Stefano Coletti	Trident Racing
–	R1	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	18 February	Cancelled due to anti-government protests[3]
	R2		19 February
–	R1	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	12 March
	R2		13 March
2	R1	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola	19 March	Romain Grosjean	Romain Grosjean	Romain Grosjean	DAMS	Report
	R2		20 March		Romain Grosjean	Dani Clos	Racing Engineering

Results

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

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Points	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Sprint race points

Points are awarded to the top 6 classified finishers.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Points	6	5	4	3	2	1

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver YMC IMO Points 1 Romain Grosjean 2 Ret 1 7 24 2 Jules Bianchi 1 8 3 Ret 18 3 Giedo van der Garde 5 23 2 3 16 4 Stefano Coletti 8 1 5 Ret 11 5 Fabio Leimer 10 6 6 2 9 6 Marcus Ericsson 4 3 10 16 9 7 Davide Valsecchi 3 4 DSQ 17 9 8 Michael Herck 13 5 4 5 9 9 Dani Clos Ret 22 7 1 8 10 Josef Král 6 2 12 9 8 11 Esteban Gutiérrez Ret 12 11 4 3 12 Sam Bird 7 Ret Ret Ret 2 13 Pål Varhaug Ret 20 13 6 1 14 Fairuz Fauzy Ret 15 8 Ret 1 15 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 15 7 15 19† 0 16 Oliver Turvey 18 19 14 8 0 17 Rodolfo González 11 9 9 Ret 0 18 Charles Pic 9 21 20 11 0 19 Jolyon Palmer 14 10 18 Ret 0 20 Luca Filippi 22 10 0 21 Andrea Caldarelli 16 11 17 12 0 22 Max Chilton 12 18 21 15 0 23 Nathanaël Berthon Ret 14 Ret 13 0 24 James Jakes 17† 13 0 25 Luiz Razia Ret 16 Ret 14 0 26 Julián Leal Ret 17 16 18 0 27 Mikhail Aleshin Ret 24† 19 20† 0 Pos Driver YMC IMO Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd 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 participate (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 Car No. YMC IMO Points 1 DAMS 9 2 Ret 1 7 25 10 Ret 20 13 6 2 Lotus ART 5 1 8 3 Ret 22 6 Ret 12 11 4 3 Barwa Addax Team 16 9 21 20 11 16 17 5 23 2 3 4 Trident Racing 18 8 1 5 Ret 11 19 11 9 9 Ret 5 iSport International 1 4 3 10 16 11 2 7 Ret Ret Ret 6 Rapax 20 10 6 6 2 9 21 Ret 17 16 18 7 Team AirAsia 26 Ret 16 Ret 14 9 27 3 4 DSQ 17 8 Scuderia Coloni 11 13 5 4 5 9 12 17† 13 22 10 9 Racing Engineering 22 Ret 14 Ret 13 8 23 Ret 22 7 1 10 Arden International 3 6 2 12 9 8 4 14 10 18 Ret 11 Super Nova Racing 7 Ret 15 8 Ret 1 8 15 7 15 19† 12 Ocean Racing Technology 14 16 11 17 12 0 15 18 19 14 8 13 Carlin 24 Ret 24† 19 20† 0 25 12 18 21 15 Pos Team Car No. YMC IMO Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd 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 participate (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.

References

1. "GP2 Series announce teams for 2011–2013". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 21 September 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
2. "GP2 Asia Series 2011 Calendar released". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
3. "Bahrain withdraw from 2011 GP2 Asia Series calendar". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 21 February 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
4. "Imola added to GP2 Asia Series calendar". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
5. English, Steven (13 January 2011). "iSport signs Bird and Ericsson for '11". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
6. "Kral and Palmer join Arden for 2011 GP2 season". Arden Motorsport. Arden International. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
7. Collantine, Keith (21 September 2010). "Lotus to back ART's GP2 and GP3 teams". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
8. "GP2 Asia Series: Teams and Drivers". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
9. "Esteban Gutierrez in GP2 with Lotus ART team in 2011". estebanracing.com. Esteban Gutiérrez. 10 November 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2010.
10. Elizalde, Pablo (18 January 2011). "Fauzy to be Renault's reserve driver". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 January 2011. The team said the Malaysian will also be competing in the GP2 series this year with the Super Nova squad.
11. "Cecotto with Super Nova in GP2 Asia Series". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
12. "Grosjean and Varhaug in DAMS' colours". DAMS. Oceanet. 25 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
13. "Scuderia Coloni and Michael Herck join forces in 2011". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
14. "James Jakes joins Scuderia Coloni". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
15. "Filippi Replaces Jakes At Coloni For Imola". The Checkered Flag. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
16. "Ocean bets on Oliver Turvey and Andrea Caldarelli for GP2 Asia 2011". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
17. "Pic – van der Garde line up for Barwa Addax". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
18. "Rodolfo Gonzalez completes Trident Racing line up in 2011". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-01-30. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
19. "Fabio Leimer with Team Champions Rapax in 2011". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
20. "Julian Leal joins Rapax for 2011 GP2 Asia Series". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
21. "Racing Engineering confirm their 2011 Line Up". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
22. "Carlin sign Aleshin and Chilton for GP2". carlin.co.uk. Carlin. 27 January 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
23. Beer, Matt (4 February 2011). "AirAsia secures Valsecchi and Razia". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
24. Glendenning, Mark (1 March 2011). "Imola replaces Bahrain GP2 round". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 March 2011.

External links

• GP2 Series official website