2008 GP2 Series

2008 GP2 Series season
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For the Asian-based series, see 2008 GP2 Asia Series season.

The 2008 GP2 Series was the fourth edition of the GP2 Series. It began on 26 April at Barcelona, Spain and it finished on 14 September at Monza, Italy. This is the first season using a new car design to be used during the following 3 seasons. The series was won by Giorgio Pantano.

Season summary

4th GP2 Series season started in Circuit de Catalunya. Pastor Maldonado took first pole position of the season, but he couldn't use the advantage after a very bad start. Alvaro Parente won in his debut race in the series. In the sprint race, Romain Grosjean was heading for victory until late-race safety car. When the safety car went back to the pits, Grosjean straight-lined chicane and lost momentum. He then blocked Kamui Kobayashi, receiving drive through penalty. Kobayashi won the race while Grosjean was left without points.

At Turkey, Giorgio Pantano won from pole in the feature race. Grosjean won the sprint race which included several accidents on the first lap, as well as two stray dogs on the track. One of them was hit by Bruno Senna whose car was damaged and he had to retire. Luckily Senna escaped without injury. Senna then won at Monaco, on the track where his uncle Ayrton had won six times. In the sprint race, which was held for the first time in Monaco, Mike Conway was victorious. He was heading for third place in feature race before being punted off by Javier Villa on the final lap. He was lucky in the event, as only eight drivers were unlapped, so he ended in eight and therefore for the pole in the sprint.

Magny-Cours feature race was won by Pantano after Grosjean and Senna suffered mechanical retirements. The sprint race started on damp track and few drivers gambled starting with slicks. This worked well for Arden drivers, as Sébastien Buemi won from 21st on the grid. His team-mate Yelmer Buurman was second. At Silverstone Pantano won the feature again, and wet sprint race was dominated by Senna.

At Hockenheim Grosjean finished first on the road, but he was later penalized for overtaking under yellow flag, giving Pantano third straight feature race victory. Karun Chandhok won the sprint race from pole. At Hungaroring, Lucas di Grassi who had returned to GP2 in Magny-Cours, won the feature race, while Buemi won the sprint after polesitter Andy Soucek made a small mistake.

The feature race at Valencia ended in dramatic fashion. Pantano was on road for victory before he ran out of fuel on the final lap. Several other drivers suffered same fate, including Senna who could get his car over the finish line but in 9th place. Vitaly Petrov inherited the win. Pantano recovered well in sprint race to take third place while Senna crashed out. di Grassi was the winner.

With four races to go, Pantano led by 13 points on Senna and 20 on di Grassi. Senna took the pole in Spa, but his race was destroyed by drive through penalty for unsafe release by the team in his pit stop. Pantano suffered mechanical glitch during safety car and was dropped to back of the field. He was recovering until he collided with di Grassi on the final lap. Pantano was disqualified for the race and also excluded from the sprint. Grosjean won the feature while Maldonado took his first victory of the season in the sprint, overtaking Jérôme d'Ambrosio on the final lap.

Pantano got perfect start for final weekend with pole, therefore knocking di Grassi out from the championship hunt. A race started in wet conditions and mandatory pit stop was done as late as possible, as the track was ready for slicks. di Grassi won while Pantano ended in 10th after drive through penalty for crossing white line at the pit exit. It didn't matter much: while Senna couldn't finish better than 5th, Pantano clinched the title with one race to go. The sprint race was held in wet conditions as well and won by polesitter Davide Valsecchi.

Teams and drivers

On 19 October 2007, it was announced that the same 13 teams which took part in 2007 would continue into 2008.^[1]

Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
iSport International	1	Karun Chandhok[2]	All
	2	Bruno Senna[2]	All
ART Grand Prix	3	Luca Filippi[3]	1–5
		Sakon Yamamoto[4]	6–10
	4	Romain Grosjean[5]	All
Barwa International Campos Team	5	Vitaly Petrov[6]	All
	6	Ben Hanley[6]	1–3
		Lucas di Grassi[7]	4–10
Super Nova Racing	7	Christian Bakkerud[8]	1, 3
		Andy Soucek[9][10]	2, 4–10
	8	Álvaro Parente[8]	All
DAMS	9	Jérôme d'Ambrosio[11]	All
	10	Kamui Kobayashi[12]	All
Racing Engineering	11	Javier Villa	All
	12	Giorgio Pantano[13]	All
Trust Team Arden	14	Sébastien Buemi[14]	All
	15	Yelmer Buurman[15]	1–5
		Luca Filippi[16]	6–10
Durango	16	Davide Valsecchi[17]	1–2, 5–10
		Marcello Puglisi[18]	3
		Ben Hanley[19]	4
	17	Alberto Valerio[17]	All
FMS International	18	Roldán Rodríguez[20]	All
	19	Adrián Vallés[21]	1
		Adam Carroll[22]	2–3
		Marko Asmer[23]	4–10
Trident Racing	20	Mike Conway[24]	All
	21	Ho-Pin Tung[25]	All
Piquet Sports	22	Andreas Zuber[26]	All
	23	Pastor Maldonado[27]	All
David Price Racing	24	Michael Herck[28]	4–10
		Giacomo Ricci[29]	1–2
		Andy Soucek[30]	3
	25	Diego Nunes[28]	All
BCN Competición	26	Paolo Maria Nocera[31]	1
		Adrián Vallés[22]	2–10
	27	Miloš Pavlović[32]	1–3
		Carlos Iaconelli[33]	4–10

Schedule and results

Round		Location	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Report
1	F	Barcelona, Spain	Circuit de Catalunya	26 April	Pastor Maldonado	Álvaro Parente	Álvaro Parente	Super Nova Racing	Report
	S			27 April		Kamui Kobayashi	Kamui Kobayashi	DAMS
2	F	Istanbul, Turkey	Istanbul Park	10 May	Giorgio Pantano	Andreas Zuber	Giorgio Pantano	Racing Engineering	Report
	S			11 May		Romain Grosjean	Romain Grosjean	ART Grand Prix
3	F	Monte-Carlo, Monaco	Circuit de Monaco	23 May	Pastor Maldonado	Bruno Senna	Bruno Senna	iSport International	Report
	S			24 May		Mike Conway	Mike Conway	Trident Racing
4	F	Magny-Cours, France	Circuit de Magny-Cours	21 June	Bruno Senna	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Racing Engineering	Report
	S			22 June		Kamui Kobayashi	Sébastien Buemi	Trust Team Arden
5	F	Silverstone, Great Britain	Silverstone Circuit	5 July	Bruno Senna	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Racing Engineering	Report
	S			6 July		Vitaly Petrov	Bruno Senna	iSport International
6	F	Hockenheim, Germany	Hockenheimring	19 July	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Giorgio Pantano	Racing Engineering	Report
	S			20 July		Sébastien Buemi	Karun Chandhok	iSport International
7	F	Budapest, Hungary	Hungaroring	2 August	Romain Grosjean	Pastor Maldonado	Lucas di Grassi	Campos Grand Prix	Report
	S			3 August		Lucas di Grassi	Sébastien Buemi	Trust Team Arden
8	F	Valencia, Spain	Valencia Street Circuit	23 August	Giorgio Pantano	Pastor Maldonado	Vitaly Petrov	Campos Grand Prix	Report
	S			24 August		Lucas di Grassi	Lucas di Grassi	Campos Grand Prix
9	F	Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	6 September	Bruno Senna	Romain Grosjean	Romain Grosjean	ART Grand Prix	Report
	S			7 September		Pastor Maldonado	Pastor Maldonado	Piquet Sports
10	F	Monza, Italy	Autodromo Nazionale Monza	13 September	Giorgio Pantano	Pastor Maldonado	Lucas di Grassi	Campos Grand Prix	Report
	S			14 September		Giorgio Pantano	Davide Valsecchi	Durango

The original calendar was released on 25 March 2008 and had a standalone event on the 31 May – 1 June at the Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit. However, on the 18 April 2008, it was confirmed that a deal had been agreed for a GP2 event to run alongside the new European GP at the Valencia Street Circuit instead of the original date at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

Also, for the first time in the history of GP2, two races were held at Monaco.

All of the races supported the Formula One Grands Prix indicated by the relevant flags, except the round at Valencia which supported the 2008 European Grand Prix.

Championship standings

Drivers

Pos Driver ESP TUR MON FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA Points 1 Giorgio Pantano 4 3 1 4 Ret Ret 1 Ret 1 3 1 Ret 14 5 14† 3 DSQ EX 10 5 76 2 Bruno Senna 2 4 15 Ret 1 5 Ret 5 6 1 4 3 3 3 9 Ret 11 Ret 5 9 64 3 Lucas di Grassi 2 4 2 2 5 Ret 1 10 4 1 20† 5 1 11 63 4 Romain Grosjean 5 13 2 1 Ret 10 Ret Ret 5 8 2 4 17 12 3 Ret 1 9 4 3 62 5 Pastor Maldonado 12 Ret Ret Ret 2 Ret 3 7 Ret 15† 6 17 5 18† 2 Ret 3 1 2 4 60 6 Sébastien Buemi 7 2 6 3 Ret 11 Ret 1 4 DNS Ret 8 7 1 6 Ret 5 4 3 7 50 7 Vitaly Petrov 6 Ret 5 2 Ret 15 4 18† 10 5 Ret 11 Ret 9 1 15† 4 3 Ret Ret 39 8 Álvaro Parente 1 7 Ret 8 5 3 9 Ret 16 Ret 3 6 16 Ret 16† Ret 2 Ret Ret 12 34 9 Andreas Zuber 3 Ret 3 Ret 11 17 5 8 7 11 11† 2 2 7 Ret Ret DSQ Ret Ret 10 32 10 Karun Chandhok 9 Ret 4 12 3 Ret 7 Ret 3 Ret 8 1 4 DNS 15† Ret 10 7 11 Ret 31 11 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Ret 15 Ret Ret 9 7 6 Ret 9 12 Ret 10 9 Ret 5 2 8 2 7 6 21 12 Mike Conway Ret 8 9 5 8† 1 8 6 14 4 Ret 9 6 11 Ret 8 7 Ret 13 Ret 20 13 Roldán Rodríguez Ret Ret 12 13 6 4 Ret 16 11 Ret 18 15 19 Ret Ret 10 21† Ret 6 2 14 14 Andy Soucek 19 Ret 13 6 13 Ret 12 Ret 7 Ret 8 2 7 Ret 6 Ret 9 18 14 15 Davide Valsecchi 10 5 DNS DNS 19 6 Ret 13 Ret 13 NC 7 Ret 6 8 1 11 16 Kamui Kobayashi 8 1 Ret 9 Ret 18 Ret 9 Ret 7 Ret 18 11 8 Ret 6 9 14 Ret 13 10 17 Javier Villa 14 6 7 15 14 13 14 10 13 Ret 10† 5 13 6 Ret 5 17 8 Ret EX 8 18 Ho-Pin Tung Ret 14 11 Ret 7 2 Ret 14 18 Ret 13 7 Ret 14 Ret 9 15 10 Ret 8 7 19 Luca Filippi 11 Ret 16 14 Ret 12 10 3 8 Ret Ret Ret 15 Ret 8 13 19 Ret Ret Ret 6 20 Yelmer Buurman Ret 10 14 Ret 12 8 12 2 15 10 5 21 Adrián Vallés 18 11 10 Ret 4 16 15 12 22 14† 15 Ret Ret 19 11 Ret 13 13 WD WD 5 22 Diego Nunes 15 16 13 10 15 9 11 Ret 17 Ret Ret Ret 12 15 10 4 12 Ret Ret 16 3 23 Sakon Yamamoto 12† NC 10 4 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 3 24 Ben Hanley Ret 9 17 6 16 14 Ret Ret 1 25 Adam Carroll 8 Ret Ret Ret 1 26 Alberto Valerio 13 Ret 18 7 Ret Ret 18 17 21 9 9 14 DNS 17 Ret 12 Ret Ret 12 15 0 27 Christian Bakkerud Ret DNS 10 Ret 0 28 Carlos Iaconelli 16 13 DNS Ret 16 16 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 12 14 14 0 29 Marko Asmer 17 11 20 13 14 12 18 Ret DNS Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 0 30 Michael Herck Ret 15 23 DNS 17 Ret Ret 17 12 14 14 11 Ret 17 0 31 Giacomo Ricci 16 Ret Ret 11 0 32 Miloš Pavlović DNS 12 Ret 16 DNS DNS 0 33 Marcello Puglisi 17 19 0 34 Paolo Maria Nocera 17 Ret 0 Pos Driver ESP TUR MON FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams

Pos Team Car No. ESP TUR MON FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA Points 1 Barwa Int. Campos Team 5 6 Ret 5 2 Ret 15 4 18† 10 5 Ret 12 Ret 9 1 15† 4 3 Ret Ret 103 6 Ret 9 17 6 16 14 2 4 2 2 5 Ret 1 10 4 1 20† 5 1 11 2 iSport International 1 9 Ret 4 12 3 Ret 7 Ret 3 Ret 8 1 4 DNS 15† Ret 10 7 11 Ret 95 2 2 4 15 Ret 1 5 Ret 5 6 1 4 3 3 3 9 Ret 11 Ret 5 8 3 Piquet Sports 22 3 Ret 3 Ret 11 Ret 5 8 7 11 11† 2 2 7 Ret Ret DSQ Ret Ret 10 92 23 12 Ret Ret Ret 2 Ret 3 7 Ret 15† 6 18 5 18† 2 Ret 3 1 2 4 4 Racing Engineering 11 14 6 7 15 14 13 14 10 13 Ret 10† 5 13 6 Ret 5 17 8 Ret EX 84 12 4 3 1 4 Ret Ret 1 Ret 1 3 1 Ret 14 5 14† 3 DSQ EX 10 5 5 ART Grand Prix 3 11 Ret 16 14 Ret 12 10 3 8 Ret 12† NC 10 4 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 70 4 5 13 2 1 Ret 10 Ret Ret 5 8 2 4 17 12 3 Ret 1 9 4 3 6 Trust Team Arden 14 7 2 6 3 Ret 11 Ret 1 4 DNS Ret 8 7 1 6 Ret 5 4 3 7 56 15 Ret 10 14 Ret 12 8 12 2 15 10 Ret Ret 15 Ret 8 13 19 Ret Ret Ret 7 Super Nova Racing 7 Ret DNS 19 Ret 10 Ret 13 Ret 12 Ret 7 Ret 8 2 7 Ret 6 Ret 9 18 47 8 1 7 Ret 8 5 3 9 Ret 16 Ret 3 6 16 Ret 16† Ret 2 Ret Ret 12 8 DAMS 9 Ret 15 Ret Ret 9 7 6 Ret 9 12 Ret 11 9 Ret 5 2 8 2 7 6 31 10 8 1 Ret 9 Ret 18 Ret 9 Ret 7 Ret 18 11 8 Ret 6 9 14 Ret 13 9 Trident Racing 20 Ret 8 9 5 8† 1 8 6 14 4 Ret 9 6 11 Ret 8 7 Ret 13 Ret 27 21 Ret 14 11 Ret 7 2 Ret 14 18 Ret 13 7 Ret 14 Ret 9 15 10 Ret 9 10 FMS International 18 Ret Ret 12 13 6 4 Ret 16 11 Ret 18 16 19 Ret Ret 10 21† Ret 6 2 15 19 18 11 8 Ret Ret Ret 17 11 20 13 14 13 18 Ret DNS Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 11 Durango 16 10 5 DNS DNS 17 Ret Ret Ret 19 6 Ret 14 Ret 13 NC 7 Ret 6 8 1 11 17 13 Ret 18 7 Ret Ret 18 17 21 9 9 15 DNS 17 Ret 12 Ret Ret 12 15 12 BCN Competición 26 17 Ret 10 Ret 4 16 15 12 22 14† 15 Ret Ret 19 11 Ret 13 13 WD WD 5 27 DNS 12 Ret 16 DNS DNS 16 13 DNS Ret 16 17 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 12 14 14 13 David Price Racing 24 16 Ret Ret 11 13 6 Ret 15 12 DNS 17 Ret Ret 17 12 14 14 11 Ret 17 4 25 15 16 13 10 15 9 11 Ret 17 Ret Ret Ret 12 15 10 4 12 Ret Ret 16 Pos Team Car No. ESP TUR MON FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX)

• Pole-winners in bold; feature race pole-winners are awarded two points, whereas no points are given for the reverse-grid pole winner in the sprint race.
• Drivers who achieve fastest lap in italics; earn one point, if classified in the top ten.
• Drivers who didn't finish the race but were classified are marked with †.

References

1. "Current teams confirmed for 2008". autosport.com. 2007-10-19. Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
2. "Chandhok and Senna sign for iSport". autosport.com. 2007-12-19. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
3. "Filippi confirmed at ART for 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
4. "ART replace Filippi with Yamamoto". autosport.com. 2008-07-15. Retrieved 2008-07-16.
5. "Grosjean to race for ART in 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
6. "Campos sign Hanley to partner Petrov". autosport.com. 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
7. "Di Grassi in GP2 return with Campos". autosport.com. 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
8. "Super Nova confirm Parente, Bakkerud". autosport.com. 2008-02-07. Archived from the original on 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
9. "Soucek replaces injured Bakkerud". autosport.com. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
10. "Soucek secures Super Nova drive". autosport.com. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-17.
11. "D'Ambrosio completes Dams line-up". autosport.com. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
12. "Kobayashi to race for DAMS". autosport.com. 2007-11-23. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
13. "Racing Engineering sign Pantano". autosport.com. 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
14. "Buemi lands Arden seat for 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
15. "Buurman signes for Arden seat for 2008 & 2009". f1today.nl. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-01-24.
16. "Filippi replaces Buurman at Arden". autosport.com. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
17. "Durango confirm 2008 line-up". autosport.com. 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-12-17.
18. "Puglisi to stand in for Valsecchi". autosport.com. 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
19. "Hanley grabs last-gasp Durango drive". autosport.com. 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
20. "FMS International sign Rodriguez". autosport.com. 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-04-21.
21. "Valles to race for FMS in 2008". autosport.com. 2007-12-21. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
22. "Carroll: Simple to say yes". crash.net. 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-05-07.
23. "Asmer to race in GP2 with FMS". autosport.com. 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
24. "Conway Joins Trident". pitpass.com. 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
25. "Tung joins Trident for second season". autosport.com. 2008-01-10. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
26. "Zuber joins Minardi Piquet". GPUpdate.net. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
27. "Maldona confirma su fichaje por Piquet Sport" (in Spanish). GPUpdate.net. 2008-01-26. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
28. "DPR sign Herck and Nunes for '08". autosport.com. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
29. "Ricci to replace Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
30. "Soucek to stand in for Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
31. "Paolo Maria Nocera joins BCN Competicion for 2008". motorsport.com. 2007-12-22. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
32. "BCN confirma fichaje de Pavlovic y Tahinci" (in Spanish). GPUpdate.net. 2008-01-14. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
33. "BCN resorts to Iaconelli". crash.net. 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2008-06-20.

External links

• GP2 Series & GP2 Asia Series
• GP2 Series official blog
• GP2/08 Technical review