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GP2 Features & Interviews (2005)
GP2 field growing steadily
01/02/2005
The list of drivers signed up to the all-new Bridgestone-backed GP2 Formula One support series is growing by the day as preparations continue ahead of the opening round in April.
The new series, which takes over from Formula 3000 as the official support race for the Formula One circus, will involve a total of 12 teams on a 24-car grid in 2005.
The racing will begin in San Marino, when the Grand Prix teams head to Imola for the opening European round of their season, and Bridgestone are confident the line-up will be strong.
Arden International, who won the last ever Formula 3000 championship last year, will field exciting Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen and Frenchman Nicolas Lapierre.
Kovalainen made a name for himself when he beat Bridgestone-backed Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher in the Race of Champions last December and went on to win the event overall.
And the Renault-backed driver said: "Winning that race certainly was the best feeling that I've ever had after winning a race and it had quite a huge influence on people getting to know me.
"I don't think (GP2) will be a big step forward for me and I will try to make the most of it now. I will concentrate on this year and hopefully next year we will be talking to Formula One even more."
All the drivers in the GP2 series have aspirations to step up to Formula One in the future but one driver has already been there and done that with Minardi.
Italian Gianmaria Bruni spent last year with the Bridgestone-backed team but despite an impressive performance he decided to further his career in GP2 in the hope of stepping back up in the future.
Bruni has joined Italian team Coloni while another well-known name will be on the grid with Hi-Tech Racing in the name of Nelson Piquet Junior, the son of Brazilian three-time world champion Nelson Piquet.
Piquet will team up with Zandino Negrazu, but his eyes will be firmly on long-term rival and ART driver Nico Rosberg, who himself is the son of Finnish 1982 world title winner Keke Rosberg.
"I am delighted to be with the team, which I know very well as I raced against them last season in the F3 Euroseries," said Rosberg. "They have always produced fantastic work with their drivers."
Other names already confirmed on the grid for the new season include Venezuelan Ernesto Visto, who will drive for BCN, and Argentine Juan Cruz Alvarez, who will join Campos Racing.
Argentine driver Jose-Maria Lopez and Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy will race for DAMS with American Scott Speed at I-Sport and Spaniard Borja Garcia at Racing Engineering.
Italian Ferdinando Monfardini, who drove in Formula 3000 last year, will join Monegasque Clivio Piccione, a British Formula Three driver, at Durango.
And David Price Racing will field a line-up of Olivier Pla, a French protégé of former Formula One driver Jean Alesi who raced in the World Series by Nissan last year, and Briton Ryan Sharp.
"I think it is important for us to have an international line-up for this high-profile series and I am confident that both drivers will flourish in our hands," said Price.
The ever-increasing array of young talent is creating more and more enthusiasm for the developing series and even the drivers are eager for their top rivals to sign up to create a real challenge.
"I am more motivated by the challenge of GP2 with every day," Viso admitted. "Just looking at the provisional entry list shows that they are all excellent drivers."
Chassis were delivered to one third of the teams on Monday with the remaining available before the end of the week and engines and gearboxes will be delivered before February 12.
The development machine is still completing its final tests and will be driven by Renault Driver Development driver Lucas Di Grassi at Paul Ricard on February 9 to 11.
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