GP2 R3 Nurburgring - Preamble & Event Thread!

[chunterer]

Well folks I'm so looking forward to races 5 and 6 this weekend that i'm starting the chat early!!

For me the key factors seem to be in, no particular order:

1/ Weather - never that predictable but several sources reckon it could be interchangeable.

2/ Nelson Piquet Jnr- Cracking start to the year finishing strongly (just!!) in all 4 races so far, and he has been IMO the only consistently competitive driver at the front of the field.

3/ ART- the special ingredient set up wise that they posessed in the second half of last year has, for the moment, deserted them. Lewis has more than enough talent to be a front runner in any of the top teams so that, added to his recent experience of 'Nurby' from his 2 seasons in F3 Euroseries ought to make him the favourite for at least one of the races?

4/ Alex Premat - tough start to the season as he faces a budding superstar - but can he come back and make his experience and racecraft tell?

5/ Jose Maria Lopez - not everybody's cup of tea, but has shown flashes of form (particularly in qualy) that suggests he is still not quite there with set up for a whole race? He went well at Nurby last year (and Barca come to that) so I see no reason why he won't be a contender for a victory.

6/ Gimmi Bruni/Trident - Can they continue strong Imola pace? Bruni was a frontrunner for first quarter of last year but then faded fast - can he maintain over the course of the season?

7/ Ernesto Viso/I-sport - 'Little Juan' as I like to think of him (sorry Ernesto if you don't think it appropriate!) was superb in race two at Imola and it look like he will be a contender all year. I-sport is providing both he and Gommendy with good equipment, Tristan has been getting used to the set ups with varying degrees of success so far. I also think he will more and more become a contender as the season goes on.

8/ Arden - At the moment these guys look most likely to challenge Piquet over a weekend. Lapierre mucked up a bit at Imola but his pace was good and Ammermuller continues to make the sort of statements on track that are marking him out as another special driver...

9/ Adam Caroll - Needs a strong finish as is overdriving at present to try to overcome deficiencies in set up or whatever it is. The guy is damn quick so we can never rule him out. Once he and Gary A have sussed it, Adam will be straight back into the hunt.

Other areas to dicsuss are Adrian Valles/Felix Porteiro at Campos. Both guys have shown flashes of pace so far, but can Valles recover from that nasty crash on the startline at Imola. Will his car show may weaknesses after the rebuild?

Also what about Timo Glock and Hiroshi Yoshimoto, both nearly there at Imola can they continue to do the job for BCN here?

Then what about DPR and DAMS? Both teams having shockers so far, so drivers might start to be getting a little frustrated?

So many questions, have we got enough time to discuss them before qualy on Friday?!!!

[strider]

I think I read somewhere that Gary Anderson had already parted compay wih Adam's team.

[SALEEN S7R]

Yep thats correct, Anderson has parted ways with Racing Engineering due to conflicting TV commitments for Anderson who felt that the role of being Carroll's engineer required a full time commitment. Something which Anderson was unable to give.

[bella]

the alex premat question is a good one - how good *is* he?

[flexible-flyer]

1/ Weather - damn i would love it to pour. maybe if it does then the the ratio would favour driver ability a bit more than what his car is capable of.

2/ Nelson Piquet Jnr- did well enough here last year. piquetsports have turned the corner. even negrao is further up the grid this year.

3/ ART- i still think they are the best team. i thinkthe gap has closed though. arden and piquetsports are closer, and super nova and isport also a bit closer. with hamilton being a bit of a fan of this place i reckon ART will be the team to beat here.

4/ Alex Premat - i think he is flattered by his team too often. ASM/ART even in a1 he had the best team behind him....but he always seems to make it harder for himself. i think he should get a result this weekend albeit whilst still eating hamilton's dust.

5/ Jose Maria Lopez - he could do with a quality teammate to share his data with. he has the car and aslong as he can stop getting involved in silly crashes such as imola race 2 he should be winning soon.

6/ Gimmi Bruni/Trident - i had a feeling trident would be worth watching this year. ever since monza 05. that weekend i think bruni wasnt racing but we got the news about trident and bruni came across as beleiving trident were going to be a top, top team. i think he will stay on the pace all year.

7/ Ernesto Viso/I-sport - isport look a better outfit than last year. viso has already broke their winning drought and his car looked the bees knees in that race aswell. i think isport are on the up, and viso is all the better for it. he reminds me of massa. bit of a crasher but once he calmed it down he started getting results. he has matured.

8/ Arden - arden look fantastic. both cars are going well and ammermuller looks a prospect. i fully expect them to continue their form into the nurb.

9/ Adam Caroll - always had a reputation for driving on the edge but he never damaged much cars. last year the only crashes i remember him having was the 3 occasions when piquet, rosberg and garcia hit him from behind causing him podiums in all 3 incidents. racing engineering dont seem good enough. but even with anderson gone, carroll still stuck his car on 7th on the grid and held his own throughout the race (despite the laptimes being way off the pace). he is well ahead of his teammate, so he is obviously doing something right. cant see RE improving too quickly. especially when the top teams are so close.

regarding campos, they look an all together better outfit this year. we knew they had better drivers beforehand but i dont think we expected them to do this well. i cant see them on the podium again for quite a while yet but they have 2 good drivers this year.

last year bcn were a major let down. even in the one race they looked good (turkey 2) they blew it. they have 2 good drivers but i think they will be hit and miss all season. they were awful in valencia and points getters at imola. nurburgring could be a bit of a prelude to their season.

DPR and dams indeed look off it so far. but with gp2 being so competative, i guess someone has to lose out. none of their drivers stand out for me either so in that midfield maybe it is the drivers that count, and maybe thats whey they are not up to much.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by bella

the alex premat question is a good one - how good *is* he?

Id say Premat is pretty good, not a superstar but still a very quick peddler. After all he was the lead driver in the Team France squad in A1 GP, who of course as we all know won the A1 Championship. I would be suprised if we ever see Premat in a F1 race seat though, maybe if he wins this years GP2 championship but otherwise I fully expect to see him in Champcar/IRL in 2007.

[Knowlesy]

With a hairdo like his, F1 is beyond him.

He's not that good anyways......sure he shone in A1 GP but I could have shone if I drove for Team France.

Anyways, this weekend is time for Lewis Hamilton to shine!

[bella]

premat wasn't that far off nico rosberg though, iirc...

[Knowlesy]

He was far enough off though.

Don't get me wrong, he's a competent guy and a reliable peddlar. But he ain't Frances next great hope is he?

[bella]

no, but who is... lapierre? he's been around since the dawn of time...

[Knowlesy]

Don't get me started on Lapierre.....

France is just devoid of drivers really.....only Bourdais stands out for me.

Maybe Nicolas Prost can spring a surprise one day.

[chunterer]

Not sure about that one mate?

It's probably the missing Elf/La Filiere/Marlboro/Gitanes or whatever backing that's responsible for the lack of French drivers (and much less F1 drives being available) not the actual quality of the drivers that's been the recent problem IMO.

Yep Bourdais is quick alright but up against most of the current so called F1 talents, I reckon Gommendy, Lapierre, Perera, even Pla (and Benoit Treluyet for that matter) would be a match for them given the chance. If this were the late 80's/early 90's they'd all be on their way to F1 for sure!

It's fair to say that if we talk about 'standouts' well we only get one or two of them every 5-10 years or so, regardless of nationality, with a host of merely 'good' drivers following in their wake.

[Go_For_Pole]

Bourdais IS a standout, I mean the guy won titles in every category he raced.

French used to find it easier to break into F1 mainly due to the facts that:
a) there were some French teams
b) they had budget from Elf

Talent is not lacking now, they are just victims of politics.

[chunterer]

Yeah, that's right, the elf and fag money started to dry up for a variety of reasons and as a result less drivers have progressed to the top.

It;s a pretty similar story for Italian talent as well.

[strider]

Originally Posted by bella

no, but who is... lapierre? he's been around since the dawn of time...

At the risk of upsetting both you and knowlesy, I think you're being unfair on Lapierre. He's only just 22, so he's hardly over the hill just yet.

I have been slightly disppointed by his GP2 form to date, but it turns out he has been suffering from a trapped nerve in his back, which can't be a load of laughs. Check his website here. The translation from French has its humour...

The other thing I'm having a problem with is the difference in form between A1GP and GP2, both with drivers and teams. Take DAMS, for instance. Dominant in A1GP but as yet nowhere in GP2. Arden seem to have to gone the other way, but not so dramatically.

[bella]

my god, i forgot franck perera was french. i keep thinking he's italian... he was good in the euroseries last year. often the most competitive non-mercedes car.

the difference in form question is an interesting one. it's true to the same extent with whichever part of asm ran the team brazil cars (it was them, wasn't it..). i think it'd be fair to say that a1 was extremely random in every department though.

[Go_For_Pole]

Plus DAMS have
- one inexperienced driver who is doing not spectacularly well (in the Hamilton sort of way) but still OK
- one experienced who was, is and will be doing average things.

It's an investement this year, I am sure next year Perera will do great things.

[Mekola]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Maybe Nicolas Prost can spring a surprise one day.

Why couldn't we think about a Bruno Senna-Nicolas Prost racing duel in GP2 Series for next year???
OK, Bruno could step directly from British F3 to Formula 1...

[Go_For_Pole]

Actually, I think somebody tried (or still tries) to do that in a F3 race.

[flexible-flyer]

maybe they could meet up at the zandvoort masters or macau or something?! although i dont think the spanish teams do those events as much.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Actually, I think somebody tried (or still tries) to do that in a F3 race.

Am I a bit dim here, but could you expand on your post a bit please GFP?!!

Mekola, i'm suire Bruno has F1 future written all over him but he still needs experience in my book, he's just too 'raw'. If he wins Brit F3 this year, he's surely destined for a GP2 berth?

Back to main thread, Perera must be pretty good for Toyota to continue backing him. Is it because he's a potential ace or is it because Toyota fancy the French market to sell cars and they've got a tie up with PSA on small car platforms though?!

[strider]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Mekola, i'm suire Bruno has F1 future written all over him but he still needs experience in my book, he's just too 'raw'. If he wins Brit F3 this year, he's surely destined for a GP2 berth?

I'd agree with that, although his people are definitely fast-tracking him to F1. Apart from the F3 races he did in Australia, he took part in the Pro/Am celebrity race in Bahrain (sharing with the legenday 400 metre runner, Michael Jackson) and I believe he's pencilled in to drive the guest car in the Porsche Supercup race in Monaco.

[Mystery]

Originally Posted by foxy mole

.....(sharing with the legenday 400 metre runner, Michael Jackson)......

Michael Jackson's running abilities are perhaps not those of Michael Johnson.

[strider]

I asked for that and, to make it worse, it's the second time I've done something similar. I really must try to engage my brain before posting... On the other hand, have you never seen Michael Jackson run away from the paparazzi? Man, he's fast!

Getting back to topic (please!), Piquet is on pole by nearly half a second. Impressive considering he only did 5 laps in free practice this morning.

[Alienman_69]

Yep, Piquet is doing a great job so far. Half a second is a lot for a grid where the first 16 are all in 1 second and specially for him that only made 5 laps in the morning practice and qualifying only has 30 minutes.