iSport International was a British motor racing team that competed in the
GP2 Series
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccles ...
. The team was founded by Paul Jackson, Gavin Bickerton-Jones and Richard Selwin, former members of the
Petrobras Junior Team in 2004, ahead of the inaugural GP2 season. Their factory is based in
Carleton Rode
Carleton Rode is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated approximately five miles south-east of Attleborough. In the 2011 Census, Carleton Rode was recorded as having a population of 785 people in 324 households.
History ...
near Norwich in the United Kingdom.
iSport's most successful season in GP2 came in 2007, when they won the teams' title, with
Timo Glock winning the drivers' championship. The team finished second in 2008, and won the
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series
The 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season was the third season of the GP2 Asia Series. It began on 31 October 2009 and ended on 14 March 2010 after four double-header rounds.
Season summary
All teams from the 2009 GP2 Series season except for Rac ...
drivers' and teams' championship. They pulled out of the GP2 series before the 2013 season, after encountering financial difficulties. iSport returned to motorsport in 2014, running a GP2 team for
Russian Time.
Racing history
GP2 Series
The
inaugural season of the
GP2 series
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccles ...
saw iSport take the fastest time in the shoot-out for race numbers, giving drivers
Scott Speed and
Can Artam
Can Artam (born 30 June 1981, in Istanbul) is a Turkish race car driver born into a car racing family. He raced in the 2005 GP2 Series for the iSport team and was the 2001 US Barber Formula Dodge champion.
Career
Artam's career begun in karti ...
numbers 1 and 2 for the season. While the team was regularly fast at races, neither driver was able to win a race. Nevertheless, Speed finished third in the championship with consistent points-scoring finishes, whilst Artam was 22nd overall with two points. iSport finished the season in fourth place in the teams' championship. For
2006, Speed graduated to
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
with a drive at
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Re ...
and Artam left the series. iSport filled its seats with
Ernesto Viso
Ernesto José "E. J." Viso Lossada (born March 19, 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver. He has raced in the 2005 and 2006 GP2 Series seasons, and has also driven the third car for Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007 he competed in the GP2 S ...
and
Tristan Gommendy
Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering.
Racing career
Early career
Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his profess ...
, the latter of whom was later replaced by
Timo Glock at the mid-season point. Viso took the team's first two victories in the category and Glock added two more; the part-season driver overhauling his teammate's points tally to finish the year fourth overall in the drivers' standings, with Viso sixth and Gommendy 20th. iSport improved to third in the teams' championship.
![Bruno Senna 2008 GP2 Silverstone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Bruno_Senna_2008_GP2_Silverstone.jpg)
Glock remained with the team for
2007 and was joined by 2006 race winner
Andreas Zuber
Andreas "Andi" Zuber (born 9 October 1983 in Judenburg, Austria) is a motor racing driver. An Austrian by birth, he is based in Dubai and once raced under a licence issued by the United Arab Emirates.
Career
Formula König
Despite beginning hi ...
. Glock won five races on his way to the championship title, prevailing in a season-long duel with
Lucas di Grassi (
ART Grand Prix
ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...
). Zuber supported him with a single further victory on his way to ninth overall, although the teammates embarrassingly collided whilst accelerating away from the front row of the grid at the feature race of the round held at
Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.
It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula ...
. To cap a successful year, iSport also won its first teams' championship. For the 2008 season, iSport joined 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 ...
in its
inaugural year, signing
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...
and
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
. After a low-key Asia campaign, which saw the team finish fifth in the standings, the Senna-Chandhok combination was retained for the
main series season, in which Senna emerged as champion
Giorgio Pantano
Giorgio Pantano (born 4 February 1979) is an Italian professional racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He also raced in Formula 3000. He retired from racing at ...
's main rival, accumulating two victories on his way to the runner-up position in the drivers' table. Chandhok also won a race and finished tenth overall; iSport ended the season second in the teams' championship to the
Barwa International Campos Team.
![Nunes + Parente + Grosjean 2009 GP2 Turkey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Nunes_%2B_Parente_%2B_Grosjean_2009_GP2_Turkey.jpg)
For the
2008-09 Asia Series season, the departing driver line-up was replaced with reigning
Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion
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 Ch ...
and a series-encouraged Asian driver,
Hamad Al Fardan. Van der Garde and Al Fardan scored 13 points between them, resulting in an eighth-place championship finish for the team. For the
2009 main series, Van der Garde was retained with
Diego Nunes replacing Al Fardan; Van der Garde won three races but only managed seventh in the drivers' championship, whilst Nunes was back in 20th. iSport finished fifth overall in the teams' championship. Both drivers then moved on, and were replaced by
Davide Valsecchi
Davide Valsecchi (born 24 January 1987) is an Italian former racing driver and the 2012 GP2 Series champion.
Career
Formula Renault
Valsecchi drove in Renault-based series from 2003 to 2007, rising from Italian Formula Renault and the Formula ...
and
Oliver Turvey
Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to McLaren as a test driver. He was a notable kart racer, with two national titles, and was t ...
for both the
2009-10 Asia Series and the
2010 main series. In the Asia Series, Valsecchi won three races and sealed the championship title, with rookie driver Turvey backing him up to take sixth overall, allowing iSport to win the Asia teams' championship for the first time. In the main series, however, the team was unable to maintain this level of form: Valsecchi ended the season strongly with the outfit's sole victory at
Yas Marina, but was overshadowed by Turvey, who concluded the year sixth in the drivers' championship to Valsecchi's eighth. iSport maintained its fifth place in the teams' championship.
iSport again signed two new drivers—
Sam Bird
Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
Career
Formula BMW
Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula B ...
and
Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Thorbjörn Ericsson (; born 2 September 1990) is a Swedish professional racing driver. He competes in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 8 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing and is the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner. Ericsson previously ...
—for the abortive
2011 Asia Series
The 2011 Asia Series was the fifth time the Asia Series has been held, and the first after a two-year break. The tournament was held in Taiwan, the first time it has been held outside Japan. Though originally scheduled to commence on 11 November ...
and the
2011 main series. On this occasion, neither driver won a race: Bird finished sixth in the final standings with a single position, with Ericsson four places behind him but the team improving to fourth overall. Ericsson was retained for
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
, with
Jolyon Palmer signed from the
Arden team to replace the Formula Renault 3.5-bound Bird. The drivers' fortunes improved, as they took a race victory apiece, but iSport slipped to sixth in the teams' championship at season's end.
The iSport GP2 contract was acquired by RT Russian Time for the 2013 season.
Formula One
The iSport team was believed to have been evaluating an entry to Formula One, but team principal Paul Jackson said that he was waiting for the
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backs ...
to finalise its plans to cap budgets in the sport before making any solid plans. "For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible. When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors." iSport's possible F1 entry was cancelled after they pulled out of GP2.
Results
GP2 Series
;i Sport International
† Glock had scored 5 points for
BCN Competición
BCN may refer to:
Places
* Barcelona El Prat Airport, IATA code
* an abbreviation for the city of Barcelona
* Port of Barcelona, by shortened form of the UN/LOCODE ESBCN without the country prefix
* Baja California, geographical ISO 3166 code MX- ...
during the first 9 races of the season.
GP2 Series
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
;RT Russian Time
GP2 Asia Series
Footnotes
References
External links
*
*
}
}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isport International
British auto racing teams
GP2 Series teams
2004 establishments in the United Kingdom
Auto racing teams established in 2004
Auto racing teams disestablished in 2014