2014 World Series by Renault silly season

[Formulahistory]

Thank you for the list.

I wonder why Arden will not test Sainz jr. and Kvyat? Will the Red Bull money go back to GP2?

Stefano Coletti to Comtec, hmm. Perhaps he is thinking WSbR has improved and is better than GP2, so the step to WSbR could be not a bad one, but with Comtec, the last team?

Sainz testing for Pons and DAMS, perhaps Red Bull will not longer support Arden Caterham?

[andrewc]

Alice Powell has done 4 or 5 days testing this year with Carlin in a FR3.5 so she may appear on the list.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

As it seems with feeder series these days, the slower, well-backed drivers get the places over the real talents. By now you'd expect to see someone like Dennis Lind up the front of this series, but clearly not. Alice Powell? Oh dear...

[Formulahistory]

DAMS
Marciello, Stöckinger, Buller, Sainz

Fortec
Rowland, Agostini, Martsenko

Draco
Foresti, Fantin, Negrao

Arden Caterham
Buller, Müller, Mardenborough, Amberg

Tech-1
Gasly, Vermont, Marciello

Strakka
Stevens, Laine

Lotus
Vaxivière, Tunjo, Stöckinger

ISR
Sirotkin, Move

AV
Ghirelli, Powell, Foresti

Zeta
Mavlov, Martsenko, Agostini

Carlin
Mardenborough, King, Sims, Da Costa

Pons
Sainz,Ghiotto, Che Wo Im

Comtec
Coletti, Yelloly

[bella]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

Stefano Coletti to Comtec, hmm. Perhaps he is thinking WSbR has improved and is better than GP2, so the step to WSbR could be not a bad one, but with Comtec, the last team?

he drove for them in 2010 or 2011. it's not a new relationship. wouldn't over think it if i was you

mardenborough could be interesting though, would love to be a fly on the wall to hear how that goes...

here's autosport's list: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110782

imagine if day 1's arden caterham line-up signed up for next season. commentators nightmare

[chunterer]

Looking better now....

Chewon im? On whom?

Interesting to see Sims down to test and Da Costa still there?

Also be interesting to see how King and Mardenbrough go for different reasons.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Seeing Mardenborough there makes me wonder how much money that guy has. Yes, he won his way into racing and proved to be rapid in a GT3 car, but he hasn't exactly worked wonders in F3 (although he could've won at Spa if not for an error in the rain), and, yes it was his first season, but FR3.5 already?

Looks like Tech 1 want Pierre Gasly, and Fortec want Rowland. Personally I think that Jordan King has his name on one of the Carlin cars, and him and Jaafar could actually do nicely together.

[bella]

er, mardenborough is being funded by nissan... he's paying nothing.

[ivanalesi]

I was hoping Nissan to place him in Eurocup and give him the maximum amount of track time, but they've decided otherwise... Very exciting drivers on this list.
I thought Coletti was going the IndyCar route?

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

I was hoping Nissan to place him in Eurocup and give him the maximum amount of track time, but they've decided otherwise... Very exciting drivers on this list.
I thought Coletti was going the IndyCar route?

never heard of that. Don't think any IndyCar team is interested in signing Coletti.

It could make sense for Coletti to go back to WsbR as the series looks more better than GP2 in the last two years...

[chunterer]

Coletti's big chance was this season and it went waaaay west.

That's got to be it for him at this level. If he goes to 3.5 he'll be shown up against the top talents coming through.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by bella

er, mardenborough is being funded by nissan... he's paying nothing.

In other words, he has loads of backing. Whilst he is a fantastic GT talent, I can't quite understand where the tips for F1 come from. I'd love to be proved wrong, but it seems too soon for FR3.5, although it wouldn't do much harm looking at some of the other drivers who look like they're coming into the series...

[bella]

this is a point i keep using with the discussions around the kvyat announcement but... if the boy can drive, then why worry about results on the way to wherever it is he's capable of going? there's enough people who really know what they're talking about following this guy, and if they're convinced he'll be able to perform to the level the bosses want then why not? they know what opportunities they're furnishing with and how he's coping with them relative to what everyone else has. we don't.

it's optimistic of them to put him in 3.5, but they keep chucking him in the deep end waiting for him to come a cropper and run out of talent but he keeps turning up and putting in really decent performances.

[ivanalesi]

But he has impressed today, right? I thought he would be at the back. King was generally faster in F3, now Jann is P2 from the rookies and P10 overall. As expected Marciello is super fast, but for a guy with his huge lack of experience he's been doing great. I guess a more powerful car suits him more.

[bella]

even if you ignore the fact that times are unreliable, he did a great job. it'd be excellent to see him on next years grid, i bet he wouldn't disgrace himself in the slightest.

i suppose the counterpoint is that some people might be concerned about his lack of racing experience and whether he'd make daft mistakes. but remember that he learnt to race in sportscar endurance stuff, where managing traffic is a real specialist skill that even the experienced racers take a while to get their heads around.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I'm pleased for Mardenborough. That's encouraging stuff. Perhaps more power really helps him from his endurance background.

[ivanalesi]

I'd love to see him in GP3, may be the level of competitiveness there will be more suited to him and if he has some good results to boost his confidence in single-seaters it will be an added bonus.

Anyways, does anyone know why Rosenqvist isn't testing?

[bella]

no idea, maybe he's concentrating on the couple of days that include the rookie test in a month or so's time?

[Go_For_Pole]

I would imagine, given Mardenborough's inexperience, that the extra kms in FR3.5 would be more suitable than GP3

[cmk]

Mardenborough definitely seems to have a massive amount of natural talent combined with a reasonable skill for unlocking that under pressure. He nearly won the Brit GT championship in his debut season racing cars, when they had to put him into a GT3 car at the last minute after the international GT4 scene collapsed. He showed extremely well at Le Mans in the P2 car this year and in his return to the GT3 scene for the Spa 24. He seems to rise to a challenge, so maybe that's why Nissan keeps throwing them at him?

[Last2LiftOff]

Difficult to imagine preferring anyone race in GP3 over 3.5 almost especially on competitive reasons...

No coverage whatever here last year though - none, nada, ziltch - so very possibly things have changed that much. Any rumours about the series providing some (video) coverage in any fashion, even rebroadcasts if not live streaming?

[Formulahistory]

perhaps it could be like this

DAMS: Nato - Buller
Fortec: Rowland - Dennis
Draco: Negrao - Fantin
Arden Caterham: Sainz - Mardenborough
Tech-1: Marciello - Gasly
Strakka: Stevens - Laine
Lotus: Stöckinger - Vaxivière
ISR: Zanella - Move
AV: Ghirelli - Cassidy
Zeta: Agostini - Mavlanov
Carlin: Da Costa - Sims
Pons: Ghiotto - Che One Lim
Comtec: Coletti - Yelloly

[bella]

seriously, there is absolutely no point in doing lists like that until january or february at the earliest.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by cmk

Mardenborough definitely seems to have a massive amount of natural talent combined with a reasonable skill for unlocking that under pressure. He nearly won the Brit GT championship in his debut season racing cars, when they had to put him into a GT3 car at the last minute after the international GT4 scene collapsed. He showed extremely well at Le Mans in the P2 car this year and in his return to the GT3 scene for the Spa 24. He seems to rise to a challenge, so maybe that's why Nissan keeps throwing them at him?

Mardenborough is very versatile in his ability. He would've won British GT if not for his car having a technical problem, and he's performed well in F3 and brilliantly in GTs, and had a great P2 run a Le Mans. Not bad for someone who has never done karting. I'd love him to actually get a break. Hopefully he can learn the circuits and teams in this season and come back even stronger next season.

[gaaaazFR]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

In other words, he has loads of backing. Whilst he is a fantastic GT talent, I can't quite understand where the tips for F1 come from. I'd love to be proved wrong, but it seems too soon for FR3.5, although it wouldn't do much harm looking at some of the other drivers who look like they're coming into the series...

In my opinion it's not a bad choice from Nissan to offer this FR3.5 test to Mardenborough.

I don't see them making Jan race in that category in 2014, but in term of experience building with high downforce cars this test will be really helpfull I think!

As he has a very little experience in single seater, testing a bigger car should help him to go quicker and feel more confident in F3 next year.
In the mean time, an LMP2 car has a downforce quite equivalent of an FR 3.5, so even for his endurance career this is going to help him.

You've got to remember that Nissan (Jan's sponsor) is preparing its LMP1 comeback... they'll need guys with high downforce driving experience ;-)