2014 NewGP2 Series season

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2014 NewGP2 Series
Previous: none	Next: 2015
Parent series: NewF1 Series Support series: NewGP3 Series

The 2014 NewGP2 season is the first season of the NewGP2 Series, replacing the GP2 Series as a support series to the 2014 NewF1 Series season. Twelve teams and twenty-four drivers will contest the nineteen rounds that made up the calendar for the 2014 season, with the winning driver being crowned the NewGP2 Champion. The winning team, alongside the runners-up will be promoted to the 2015 NewF1 Series season, being replaced by the bottom two NewF1 teams. Conversely, the teams finishing in 11th and 12th will be relegated to the 2015 NewGP3 Series season, to be replaced by the winners and runners up. The season will start in Australia on 15 March 2014 and will end in Abu Dhabi on 22 November 2014.

Previous NewF1 teams Marussia and Scorpion joined the ranks for 2014, with Russian Time and Carlin promoted to the top-flight racing category.

Teams and drivers

Team	Constructor	No.	Race Drivers	Rounds	Test Driver(s)
Marussia sponsored by Red Bull	Marussia-Mercedes	26	Alex Lynn	1-	Pierre Gasly António Félix da Costa1
		27	António Félix da Costa1	1-2
			Carlos Sainz, Jr.	3-
Best Buy Scorpion Racing Team	Scorpion-Mercedes	28	Robin Frijns	1-	Conor Daly Louis Delétraz
		29	Felipe Nasr	1-
Racing Engineering	Racing Engineering-Mecachrome	30	Davide Valsecchi2	1-	Patric Niederhauser
		31	Daniel Abt	1-
DAMS	DAMS-Mecachrome	32	Oliver Turvey3	1-	Alexander Sims Emil Bernstorff
		33	Alexander Sims	1-
Mobil 1 ART Grand Prix	ART-Mercedes	34	Fabio Leimer	1-	Dino Zamparelli Tio Ellinas
		35	Sam Bird	1-
Hilmer Motorsport	Hilmer-Mecachrome	36	Adrian Quaife-Hobbs	1-	Sage Karam4 Ricardo Teixeira5
		37	Kimiya Sato	1, 5-
			Ricardo Teixeira5	2-3
			Sage Karam4	4
Rapax	Rapax-Ferrari	38	Tom Dillmann	1-2, 4	Robert Vișoiu Beitske Visser6
			António Félix da Costa1	3, 5-
		39	Sergio Canamasas	1-
Arden International	Arden-Mecachrome	40	Stoffel Vandoorne	1-	Dean Stoneman Aaro Vainio Matias Laine
		41	Rio Haryanto	1-
EQ8 Pic Life Racing Engines	Life	42	Matthew Brabham	1-2	Katherine Legge Matías Rossi Violeta Pernice
			Andre Lotterer	3-
		43	Facu Regalia	1
			Matías Rossi	2-
MP Motorsport	MP Motorsport-Mercedes	44	Mitch Evans	1-2, 4-	Daniel Cammish Pål Varhaug
			Pål Varhaug	3
		45	Kevin Korjus	1-
Trident	Trident-Ferrari	46	Davide Rigon7	1-	Kevin Ceccon
		47	Johnny Cecotto, Jr.	1-
Team Lazarus	Lazarus-Mecachrome	48	Sergio Campana	1	None8
			Antonio Spavone	2-5
			Giuseppe Cipriani	6-19
		49	Kevin Giovesi	1-2
			Francesco Dracone	3-4
			Giacomo Ricci	5-13
			Ricardo Teixeira5	14-19

Notes

• 1 - On loan from Red Bull
• 2 - On loan from Lotus
• 3 - On loan from McLaren
• 4 - On loan at Chip Ganassi Racing (United SportsCar Championship)
• 5 - On loan from Hilmer Motorsport at Team Lazarus
• 6 - On loan at AVF (Formula Renault 3.5)
• 7 - On loan from Ferrari
• 8 - Team Lazarus do not have test or full-time drivers and instead use various pay drivers per event.

Team Changes

The teams that finished 11th and 12th in the 2013 NewF1 season, Marussia and Scorpion were relegated with Russian Time and Carlin promoted. Spanish team Campos Racing initially were planning to enter the 2014 GP2 season, but with new regulations were forced to enter at GP3 level. EQ8 Caterham Racing were forced to cut all ties with the Caterham F1 team with affiliated teams banned, and made a stunning move by announcing they would become EQ8 Pic Life Racing Engines, not only reviving the Life team but also developing in-house engines for the 2014 season.

Driver Changes

2014 saw an almost unprecedented level of changes to the driver line-up, with no team returning for the 2014 season with the same drivers as 2013.

• Several drivers made the step up from GP3 level, including Alexander Sims, Facu Regalia and Kevin Korjus.
• Other drivers who ascended from junior formulae included Kimiya Sato (AutoGP World), Stoffel Vandoorne (Formula Renault 3.5) and Matthew Brabham (Pro Mazda).
• Some teams took advantage of the new rule allowing drivers to go on loan contracts, with António Félix da Costa, Davide Valsecchi, Oliver Turvey and Davide Rigon temporarily joining GP2 teams while still remaining contracted to their F1 teams.
• Tom Dillmann was the only free agent to secure a driver's seat, joining Rapax after being dropped by Marussia in 2013.
• Most other drivers simply swapped between teams, with a few sticking with the same team including Robin Frijns who extended his contract with Scorpion despite relegation from F1. Alex Lynn also remained with Marussia, although has been promoted from test driver to a full time seat racing in the #26 for 2014.
• António Félix da Costa was originally slated for the #27 seat for Marussia, however the team promoted Carlos Sainz, Jr. on the back of some impressive pre-season tests and da Costa was demoted to a testing role. A later press release revealed that da Costa would race the first three races of the year with Sainz to take the seat for the remainder of the year, presumably for sponsorship reasons.

Mid-Season Changes

• Kimiya Sato received a three race ban in Round 1 and was replaced by Ricardo Teixeira for Rounds 2-3 and Sage Karam for Round 4. Sato is expected to return to the seat following his suspension. Also out after the first round was Facu Regalia for Life, to be replaced by test driver Matias Rossi. Regalia's contract was later terminated to allow him to seek full-time racing.
• Mitch Evans received a one race ban in Round 2 and was replaced by Pål Varhaug for Round 3.
• After Red Bull felt that António Félix da Costa's interests were being mismanaged by Marussia, they suspended the loan deal for the championship leader with immediate effect. It was announced shortly thereafter that da Costa would move to Rapax on loan for the rest of the season, with Dillmann and Canamasas to share the driving duties of the other car. However in da Costa's first race for Rapax he received a disqualification and suspension for 2 races for a collision with Davide Valsecchi, meaning the original line-up of drivers was retained until the Round of Monaco.
• Matthew Brabham was demoted to a test role after two races by Life, with Andre Lotterer drafted into the team on a one-year deal as his replacement. Brabham's contract was later terminated as he sought a race seat elsewhere.

Season Calendar

Testing

Circuit	Date	Fastest driver	Fastest team	Lap time
Circuito de Jerez	29 January	Pål Varhaug	MP Motorsport	1:21.821
Circuit de Catalunya	25 February	Davide Rigon	Trident	1:25.814

Grands Prix

Round	Date	Race title	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Reject of the Race
1	15 March	Round of Australia	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit	Kevin Giovesi	Facu Regalia	António Félix da Costa	Marussia	Kimiya Sato
2	29 March	Round of Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit	Oliver Turvey	Kevin Giovesi	Adrian Quaife-Hobbs	Hilmer	Felipe Nasr
3	5 April	Round of Bahrain	Bahrain International Circuit	Sam Bird	Pål Varhaug	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Marussia	António Félix da Costa
4	19 April	Round of China	Shanghai International Circuit	Alexander Sims	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Mitch Evans	MP Motorsport	The front row
5	10 May	Round of Spain	Circuit de Catalunya	Oliver Turvey
6	24 May	Round of Monaco	Circuit de Monaco
7	7 June	Round of Canada	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
8	21 June	Round of Austria	Red Bull Ring
9	5 July	Round of Great Britain	Silverstone Circuit
10	19 July	Round of Germany	Hockenheimring
11	26 July	Round of Hungary	Hungaroring
12	23 August	Round of Belgium	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
13	6 September	Round of Italy	Autodromo Nazionale Monza
14	20 September	Round of Singapore	Marina Bay Street Circuit
15	4 October	Round of Japan	Suzuka Circuit
16	11 October	Round of Russia	Sochi International Street Circuit
17	1 November	Round of the United States	Circuit of the Americas
18	8 November	Round of Brazil	Autódromo José Carlos Pace
19	22 November	Round of Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina Circuit

Changes

A large number of rule changes were introduced to bring NewGP2 into line with NewF1

• The feature and sprint rounds have been shelved for a single race of approximately 75% F1 race distance
• Teams must build their own chassis and may source engines from other suppliers, although Mecachrome have remained as an engine supplier
• Drivers are only permitted to complete one lap per qualifying session as per the NewF1 regulations
• Drivers may now be loaned to other teams, but a driver may only drive for one team per weekend
• The points system now mirrors the F1 system, with points for all drivers down to 15th place

Results and Standings

Points System

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Points	25	20	16	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Drivers' Championship

Pos. Driver AUS MAL BHR CHN ESP MON CAN AUT GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA BRA ABU Points 1 Adrian Quaife-Hobbs 8 1 6 10 49 2 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 1 2 45 3 António Félix da Costa 1 4 DSQ 38 4 Sergio Canamasas 2 15 8 7 38 5 Mitch Evans 9 Ret 1 32 6 Sam Bird 13 9 3 Ret 26 7 Matías Rossi 7 Ret 3 25 8 Felipe Nasr 11 Ret 7 6 24 9 Davide Rigon 6 13 10 11 24 10 Antonio Spavone 2 Ret 13 23 11 Alexander Sims Ret Ret 2 14 22 12 Andre Lotterer 5 5 22 13 Kevin Giovesi 4 8 21 14 Kevin Korjus 7 5 Ret 21† 20 15 Ricardo Teixeira 3 13 19 16 Francesco Dracone 12 4 17 17 Alex Lynn 3 Ret Ret Ret 16 18 Johnny Cecotto, Jr. Ret 14 11 8 15 19 Pål Varhaug 4 13 20 Matthew Brabham 10 10 12 21 Tom Dillmann 5 16 Ret 11 22 Oliver Turvey 17 6 Ret 15 11 23 Robin Frijns Ret 17† Ret 9 7 24 Rio Haryanto Ret DNS 9 20† 7 25 Davide Valsecchi 16 Ret 14† 12 6 26 Daniel Abt 15 12 15† 19 6 27 Fabio Leimer Ret 11 Ret 18 5 28 Facu Regalia 12 4 29 Stoffel Vandoorne 14 Ret Ret 16 2 30 Sage Karam 17 0 — Sergio Campana Ret 0 — Kimiya Sato Ret 0

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Orange Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) Pale Blue Withdrawn (WD) Blank Did Not Enter (No text) Excluded (EX) Did not Start (DNS) Did not Arrive (DNA) Event cancelled (C) Injured (INJ) Bold denotes pole position Italics denote fastest lap † Classification despite retirement ‡ Race not run to scheduled distance

Constructors' Championship

Pos. Constructor No. AUS MAL BHR CHN ESP MON CAN AUT GBR GER HUN BEL ITA SIN JPN RUS USA BRA ABU Points 1 Marussia-Mercedes 26 3 Ret Ret Ret 99 27 1 4 1 2 2 Hilmer-Mecachrome 36 8 1 6 10 68 37 Ret 3 13 17 3 MP Motorsport-Mercedes 44 9 Ret 4 1 65 45 7 5 Ret 21† 4 Life 42 10 10 5 5 63 43 12 7 Ret 3 5 Lazarus-Mecachrome 48 Ret 2 Ret 13 61 49 4 8 12 4 6 Rapax-Ferrari 38 5 16 DSQ Ret 49 39 2 15 8 7 7 Trident-Ferrari 46 6 13 10 11 39 47 Ret 14 11 8 8 DAMS-Mecachrome 32 17 6 Ret 15 33 33 Ret Ret 2 14 9 ART-Mercedes 34 Ret 11 Ret 18 31 35 13 9 3 Ret 10 Scorpion-Mercedes 28 Ret 17† Ret 9 31 29 11 Ret 7 6 11 Racing Engineering-Mecachrome 30 16 Ret 14† 12 12 31 15 12 15† 19 12 Arden-Mecachrome 40 14 Ret Ret 16 9 41 Ret DNS 9 20† Promoted to the 2015 NewF1 Series season Relegated to the 2015 NewGP3 Series season