GP3 2012 Silly Season

[Daisy]

Yep, it just appeared in my Twitter feed. Is Vicky Piria any good? What did she do last season?

[skells22]

Formula Abarth last year and the year before she won the Italy version of Formula Abarth.

[META4]

Originally Posted by skells22

Formula Abarth last year and the year before she won the Italy version of Formula Abarth.

Euh.... she won the italian Version of the Formula Abarth???? where did you find that


http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/vittoria-piria/career/

[skells22]

She has her own twitter page which gave that answer to me

[bella]

it does?!

i hope she doesn't get too caught up in the desperate need by the press and fanboys to stereotype based on the fact she's attractive.

[chunterer]

I'm sorry....

WHO, WHAT????!!!!!!

The series must be getting a bit desperate, if it's flogging average drivers PR now.

There's still plenty of excellent young drivers out there that GP3 team owners should be courting, male or female!

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I'm sorry....

WHO, WHAT????!!!!!!

The series must be getting a bit desperate, if it's flogging average drivers PR now.

There's still plenty of excellent young drivers out there that GP3 team owners should be courting, male or female!

Too right there is. Plenty of talented drivers like Scott Malvern who should be getting into these drives but without funding behind them they don't have a hope. GP3 will lose credibility.

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by skells22

She has her own twitter page which gave that answer to me

Well it's the wrong answer! I sincerely hope she wasn't actually claiming that.

[Deemun]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

Well it's the wrong answer! I sincerely hope she wasn't actually claiming that.

Doesn't seem to have a single podium finish in the whole of her career! But what does that really have to do with it? GP3 teams are not primarily interested in talent; only money. Of course if some talent comes with the money then that's a bonus!

[Monkey Head]

2011 Asian Formula Renault Runners-up Yuki Shiraishi is going to participate next GP3 test in Estroil this Tuesday and Wednesday,with Trident


http://as-web.jp/news/info.php?c_id=5&no=39167

[p-matt]

Very poor driver lineup so far, especially given how good last year's field was. Hard to see past Evans for the title

[Daisy]

Well there are still many seats open, so it's a little early to jump to conclusions. But from the guys that have signed up so far, Evans is the clear favourite (althought Abt did well in testing).

[cleanup]

Originally Posted by Daisy

Well there are still many seats open, so it's a little early to jump to conclusions. But from the guys that have signed up so far, Evans is the clear favourite (althought Abt did well in testing).

For sure Evans is favourite but Abt with ART will be the best bet. Evans will need to have learned to respect his competition and race with his head. All too many times did he ruin his chances and more importantly others by crazy and irrational manoeuvres, if he has grown up, he could and with little competition, should be champion but I fear he will be the same as last year, a fast but loose cannon.

[kotkot]

Here is the list of the test:

1 Daniel Abt GER LOTUS GP
2 Conor Daly USA LOTUS GP
3 Aaro Vainio FIN LOTUS GP
/no surprise, Daly is surely well-paid, he is not hopeless, though. Abt and Vainio both good drivers, but not super-talented...There is no Gutierrez, Rossi, Bottas or Calado.../

4 Mitch Evans NZL MW ARDEN
5 David Fumanelli ITA MW ARDEN
6 Matias Laine FIN MW ARDEN
/Evans obvious, Fumanelli not bad either, but I fear he'll not succeed... Laine??? pff/

7 Dmitry Suranovich RUS MARUSSIA MANOR RACING
8 Fabiano Machado BRA MARUSSIA MANOR RACING
9 Tio Ellinas CYP MARUSSIA MANOR RACING
/interesting, Machado too old but successful, Suranovich too young without any good results (looks like there is life after Lukashevich for Russia in GP3... -,-). Ellinas good though/

14 Marlon Stockinger PHI STATUS GRAND PRIX
15 Alexander Sims GBR STATUS GRAND PRIX
16 Miki Weckstrom FIN STATUS GRAND PRIX
/quite a weak trio... Sims is good, but what the hell does he do here? I read he'll go to BTCC. Stöckinger and Wecktröm hasn't showed us much yet/

17 Robert Cregan IRL TECH 1 RACING
/only one driver, and honestly I've never heard about him... but he's 23, so not the youngest :P /

20 Robert Visoiu ROM JENZER MOTORSPORT
21 Patric Niederhauser SUI JENZER MOTORSPORT
22 Mateo Tuscher SUI JENZER MOTORSPORT
/Jenzer? I meant F.Abarth team... :P Visoiu looks good, but he's only 15... I'll be curious. Niederhauser should join them as well. Tuscher is the Formula Pilota China champion, he can be good, too/

23 Vicky Piria ITA TRIDENT RACING
24 Antonio Spavone ITA TRIDENT RACING
25 Nico Muller SUI TRIDENT RACING
/I'm glad to see Muller testing, but it's said that he has no money to step up into GP2... Piria, Spavone pff/

26 Alex Brundle GBR CARLIN
27 Antonio Felix Da Costa POR CARLIN
28 William Buller GBR CARLIN
/well, they look nice, Da Costa can have a good chance to be the champion, and Buller have proved in British F3..)

29 Tamas Pal Kiss HUN ATECH CRS GP
31 Ethan Ringel USA ATECH CRS GP
/I'm from Hungary, so I'm happy to see Tamas here, I hope he'll be successful/

So Da Costa, Buller, Tamas, Niederhauser, Muller should join the driver lineup, but I would like to see Stanaway, Sorensen, Fontana and Tarancon... If they joined, the quality would be good enough I think.

[p-matt]

Very strong driver lineup for Carlin if they all sign.

I thought da Costa was headed for GP2 with Ocean?

[Go_For_Pole]

Where is Mucke?! And also are Tech1 struggling for drivers again?

[chunterer]

I really wouldn't rule out Tamas for this season. I hadn't realised he'd re-signed?

[ivanalesi]

The grid will get stronger as it gets closer to the first race, but one can't expect it to be as strong as last year, it was one-off! Still, it looks easily stronger than any F3 grid, it's very hard to predict the top... There will be again drivers who should be in GP2, but don't have the money.

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by kotkot

17 Robert Cregan IRL TECH 1 RACING
/only one driver, and honestly I've never heard about him... but he's 23, so not the youngest :P /

I hadn't heard of him either... strange background for a potential GP3 graduate - UAE GT and Fujitsu V8 Supercars!

http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/robert-cregan/career/

[kotkot]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I really wouldn't rule out Tamas for this season. I hadn't realised he'd re-signed?

He hasn't announced officially yet, but I rely on him. He tested last year with ATECH, too, and if he'll have a good performance today/tomorrow... Ringel I think has brought a big pack of money, I hope ATECH doesn't require from Tamas to bring so much.

[Juntos]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

I hadn't heard of him either... strange background for a potential GP3 graduate - UAE GT and Fujitsu V8 Supercars!

http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/robert-cregan/career/

Totally worth the wait. At least I thought so.

[kotkot]

Evans, Müller, Vainio... they were the best ones.

[bella]

here's the morning and afternoon results:

http://tentenths.com/news/showentry.php?e=2813

[kotkot]

Best time from Vainio, but Ellinas was impressive, too. The fastest man outside GP3 was Niederhauser, he should get a contract from Jenzer Motorsport maybe...

[bella]

aaro vainio... one of those really highly rated karters who hasn't quite got it together on the circuit yet. hopefully he'll be a title contender this year.

times here:

http://tentenths.com/news/showentry.php?e=2818