2011 GP2 Asia Series Season
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The 2011 GP2 Asia Series was the fourth and final season of the
GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series. The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel commented that "It ...
, and the second to be held entirely in a single calendar year.


Season summary

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 Caterham Racing, formerly EQ8 Caterham Racing and Caterham Team AirAsia was a motor racing team competing in the GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series. It was created by Tony Fernandes, who was also responsible for the revival of the Lotus name in Fo ...
, as well as
Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...
, who had not competed in the Asia Series since its establishment. The season was originally scheduled for six races to be held at three meetings, beginning on 11 February at the
Yas Marina Circuit The Yas Marina Circuit (Arabic: حلبة مرسى ياس) is the venue for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, and is situated on Yas Island, near Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Yas Marina was ...
in the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
, and finishing on 13 March at the
Bahrain International Circuit The Bahrain International Circuit ( ar, حلبة البحرين الدولية, Ḥalba al-Baḥrayn ad-Dawliyya) is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 Series (now FIA Formula 2), and the annual Formula One Bahrai ...
. 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 Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...
. 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 The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, is a motor racing circuit in the town of Imola, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, east of Bologna. It is one of the few major international circuits to run in an an ...
in
Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
on 19–20 March. Inaugural Asia Series champion
Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Grosjean had previously spent nine ...
of the
DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...
team won the championship for the second time after title rival
Jules Bianchi Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French motor racing driver who drove for the Marussia F1 Team in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Form ...
of Lotus
ART Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
was taken out of the final race by
Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in Formula 3000/ GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the pre-existing David Sears Motorsport, sponsored by ...
's
Fairuz Fauzy Muhammad Fairuz bin Mohd Fauzy (born 24 October 1982 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is a Malaysian professional race car driver. Early career Fairuz started competing in karting events in 1994 before making the move to British Formula Ford at ...
.
Giedo van der Garde Giedo Gijsbertus Gerrit van der Garde (born 25 April 1985 in Rhenen, Netherlands) is a Dutch racing driver, currently competing in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship for TDS Racing. From 2018 to 2021 he competed in the FIA World Endurance Cha ...
finished third for the
Barwa Addax Team Addax, or Barwa Addax was a Spanish motorsport team owned by the bank Addax Capital, which competed in the GP2, GP3 and GP2 Asia Series. Team history GP2 Series Barwa Addax was formed as a result of Alejandro Agag purchase of the Campos Rac ...
, 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 Stefano Coletti (born 6 April 1989) is a Monégasque professional racing driver who races for SMP Racing in the European Le Mans Series. His sister Alexandra Coletti is an alpine skier. He is the first Monégasque driver since Louis Chiron (1931) ...
of
Trident Racing Trident Racing is a motor racing team that competes in single-seater formula racing. It was founded in 2006 in order to compete in the GP2 championship, which was Europe's second highest-ranking single-seater formula below Formula One. Trident is ...
and
Dani Clos Daniel Clos Álvarez (born 23 October 1988) is a Spanish professional racecar driver who was, in 2012, the test driver for the now defunct HRT Formula One team. Career Karting Born in Barcelona, Clos was a fairly successful karter at the IC ...
of
Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...
. As well as Grosjean's drivers' championship win, DAMS also claimed the teams' championship by three points from Lotus ART.


Entry list

All of the teams used the
Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created "D ...
GP2/11 chassis with
Mecachrome Mecachrome SAS is a precision engineering company based in France that operates in the aerospace, motor racing, energy and defence sectors. History Mecachrome was founded in 1937 in Colombes, France. As a precision engineering company, Mecachrom ...
4.0 litre (244 cu in)
V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...
s order and with tyres supplied by
Pirelli Pirelli & C. S.p.A. is a multinational tyre manufacturer based in Milan, Italy. The company, which has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922, is the 6th-largest tyre manufacturer and is focused on the consumer production of tyre ...
.


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 The Dallara GP2/11 is a racing car developed by Italian manufacturer Dallara for use in the GP2 Series, a feeder series for Formula One. The GP2/11 is the overall third generation of car used by the GP2 Series and first generation of car used b ...
chassis to all teams. Yas Marina hosted the season-opening event, before two scheduled meetings in
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
. 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 Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
. The race in
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...
was the first time the GP2/11 chassis was used. A yellow background indicates a non-Asian event.


Championship standings

;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

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


Teams' Championship

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


Notes


References


External links


GP2 Series official website
{{GP2 Seasons GP2 Asia Series seasons GP2 Asia
GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series. The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel commented that "It ...