Caterham Racing, formerly EQ8 Caterham Racing and Caterham Team AirAsia was a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

team competing 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 ...

and

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 ...

. It was created by

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commer ...

, who was also responsible for the revival of the Lotus name in Formula 1 in 2010 with the creation of the Lotus Racing team. Team AirAsia was officially accepted to the GP2 Series grid on 21 September 2010, along with fellow debutants

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly Carlin Motorsport, is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in five championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, F4 British Championship, BRDC British Formula 3 and ...

, filling the gap left by the departures of Durango and DPR. The team made their debut at the first round of the 2010–11 GP2 Asia Series. In addition to being owned by the

Caterham Group Caterham Group is the parent company for a range of automotive and motor racing businesses. Management team Businesses *Caterham Cars *Caterham Bike Vehicles *2014 Caterham Aero Seven *2013 Caterham Duo Cali Former * Caterham F1 Team so ...

that owned

Caterham F1 Team The Caterham F1 Team was a Malaysian, later British owned Formula One team based in the United Kingdom which raced under a Malaysian licence. The Caterham brand competed in the Formula One World Championship from to , following the acquisiti ...

, Caterham Racing shared deep technical links with its

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, ...

parent team. The GP2 operation was embedded within the Formula One operation and base, and the two teams shared the same technical staff. Caterham Racing's (then Team Air Asia) drivers also served as Caterham F1 Team's (then called Team Lotus) test and reserve drivers in the

2011 Formula One season The 2011 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 65th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The original calendar for the 2011 Formula One World Championship consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian G ...

. The outfit was originally called Team AirAsia. The

Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...

designation was added to the official name in June 2011, following Fernandes' purchase of the company. For the 2012 season the team was again renamed as Caterham Racing to coincide with the renaming of the Formula 1 outfit. In October 2014

GP3 Series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...

team Status Grand Prix acquired the team from

. The team still operated under the Caterham name for the remainder of the 2014 season and starting from 2015 the team became known as Status Grand Prix.

Racing history

2011 season

For its first year in GP2, Caterham signed the experienced duo of

Luiz Razia Luiz Tadeu Razia Filho (born 4 April 1989) is a Brazilian businessman and former racing driver. Career Early career Razia began his single seater career in 2005 in the South American Formula 3 championship. Driving for Dragão Motorsport, R ...

and

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 ...

for both the

Asia Series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), ...

and main series seasons. Both drivers also became test drivers for Tony Fernandes's

team, at this stage known as

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. Mor ...

, and took part in a number of Friday free practice sessions during the F1 season. After finishing seventh in the teams' championship in the truncated Asia Series, Valsecchi began the main series strongly, scoring points six times in the first eight races of the year, including the team's first victory in the feature race at

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, which propelled him into contention for the drivers' championship. However, he then failed to score during the remainder of the season, dropping him to eight overall. Razia took over as the team's driving force, securing Caterham's first pole position at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone w ...

and ending the season twelfth in the standings. The team finished sixth in the teams' championship, well ahead of fellow debutantes Carlin. Caterham's livery began the season with AirAsia's red-and-white, but switched mid-season to be more in-line with the Team Lotus.

2012 season

In January 2012, it was announced that Caterham would be proposed moving to the

Leafield Technical Centre Leafield Technical Centre is a former radio transmission station, now turned motorsports centre of excellence, located in the hamlet of Langley, in the western part of the village of Leafield in Oxfordshire, England. Developed from 1912 as a radi ...

(the previous headquarters of the Arrows and

Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. ...

teams) in

Leafield Leafield is a village and civil parish about northwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the hamlet of Langley, west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945. The village is above sea lev ...

, Oxfordshire, with its parent F1 team, now renamed as the

and

Caterham Cars Caterham Cars is a British manufacturer of specialist lightweight sports cars established in Caterham, England, with their headquarters in Dartford, England. Their current model, the Caterham 7 (or Seven), originally launched in 1973, is a d ...

. And in August 2012, Caterham Racing GP2 eventually completed its relocation to

along with

and

. On the driving front, both Razia and Valsecchi moved to other teams and were replaced by

Rodolfo González Rodolfo González (born 14 May 1986 in Caracas) is a retired Venezuelan racing driver. Career Formula Renault After previously competing in karting, González raced in the 2003 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series, before racing in the main ...

(who tested for the F1 team in ) and

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 ...

. In a continuation of the previous season's policy, Van der Garde also became the Caterham F1 team's test and reserve driver. Following the abandonment of the Asia Series, both drivers competed in an expanded main series season: team leader Van der Garde scored a brace of race victories, pole positions and fastest laps, but failed to trouble the championship protagonists and finished the year sixth overall, whilst González picked up six points and finished in 22nd position. Caterham dropped one position in the teams' championship to seventh.

Results

GP2 Series

GP2 Asia Series

In detail

GP2 Series

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

GP2 Asia Series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Caterham Racing Malaysian auto racing teams AirAsia GP2 Series teams

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

Tune Group Auto racing teams established in 2010 Auto racing teams disestablished in 2014