2012 FR 3.5 Off Season news etc

[bella]

there's not many... drives from which you could win the title left, surely? perhaps isr, but they had a quiet year aside from ricciardo's glory moments in 2011?

[mllevy]

much stronger than gp2

nasr?

[Alex K]

A good driver, like Sam could win with Comtec and Charouz surely. They have new cars, new engines, ... (ECU n gearboxes?!) it's like opening new chapter, new opening. Comtec, KMP these are not bad teams, they need good drivers and maybe good extra addtion to their technical staff. Remember Danielsson?! That's what I like about FR3.5 anybody has chance to win...
You have missed Niko Martsenko who's been signed up by Comtec, last I heard...

[META4]

I think you missed Richie Stanaway VERY likely to be at Charouz as Lotus F1 Website mention

http://lotusf1team.com/-Richie-Stanaway-.html?lang=en

[bella]

fair point about the new start, last year it was really hard work for the newbies because the field was so close together. all you needed to find (haha "all", if only it were that simple) was an extra 2 10ths and you'd gain a row or so on the grid.

it IS good because anyone can win, i love that about it too. on the other hand it must make it really difficult to pick a team because it's so close in the end it comes down to whether a driver and their engineer connect completely, and getting every. single. corner perfect on a perfect car on a single qualifying lap.

autosport and italiaracing haven't picked up on martsenko yet either, presumably the pair of them need to organise a decent press rep between them to spread the word

i was just counting the totally confirmed drivers, but also fair point about stanaway... is adrien tambay still on gravity's books?

so, if we include probablys and 'keeping it quiet's....

dams - pic, foresti
tech1 - bianchi, korjus
carlin - magnussen, stevens
fortec - frijns, huertas
pons - amberg, cunha
p1 - grubmuller, move
draco - negrao, ?
bvm target - zampieri, ?
kmp - nebylitskiy, ?
charouz gravity - stanaway, ?
arden - williamson, rossi
isr - ?, ?
comtec - martsenko, ?

[META4]

Gravity is now called IRace Professional and they have dropped severall of their drivers

2012 Line Up

- Richie Stanaway FR3.5
- Kevin Korjus FR3.5
- Oscar Tunjo FR2.0
- Esteban Ocon FR2.0
- Dorian Boccolacci Karting


bye bye Witmann,Vietoris,tambay,Prost.....

[Peter Cammish]

This series looks very strong for 2012, I like Stanaway, my son had a great dice with him in ADAC in 2009 at Sachensring I think, was a belter, think hes got a great chance of a top career. However you cannot help but think some drivers would be better without a publicist, DAMS have signed two drivers who I think it is fair to say are well supported one has said he is thankful to the team for the opportunity he has been given!!!!? I as a romantic took out my wife for Valentines day, was a great meal, when the bill came I thanked the owner of the Restaurant for allowing me to spend my hard earned on his food, no problem he said I should be thanking you!!! not it would appear in the world of motor sport,. I was and am a working class lad, why in motor sport do people feel the need to move down the social scale not up I am at a loss. Wouldnt it be nice for someone to say, my Family have worked hard, made a lot of money and now wish to spend some of this on my motor racing career, thanks to them for making it happen, that would be refreshing.

[bella]

i've seen that though, particularly in interviews. there's not many drivers been educated and brought up in the right way to be aware of what they've got! actually that goes for everyone, drivers or otherwise. if the chequebook fairy pays for everything without any reality checks how can you expect a kid to connect the dots?

and you've got to keep the team sweet. doesn't thanking them for the opportunity to work with them come under the same banner as buying a couple of rounds and getting in the ice creams on a hot day? particularly in a team-issued press release

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by bella

there's not many... drives from which you could win the title left, surely? perhaps isr, but they had a quiet year aside from ricciardo's glory moments in 2011?

I think ISR could definitely be in the hunt with a guy like Bird.

[p-matt]

What about Stoneman at ISR?

[META4]

Originally Posted by p-matt

What about Stoneman at ISR?

Stoneman is heading to Indy Light


http://deanstoneman.com/

[Alex K]

Currently busy testing that Andretti's Dallara, believe he's INDYCAR bound. Which is great if he can get a break at Andretti, def. championship contender in Indy Lights.

@bella basicly you need few extra quid to snatch good engineer from top team or be an incredibly good driver, you can do a Pastor at Rapax.

@Peter Cammish it doesn't sound right to say a aint a talent I a pay driva - it reminds me some of Teixeira's quotes re. his position at caterham, or Senna, or you name him...

[Peter Cammish]

Originally Posted by Alex K

Currently busy testing that Andretti's Dallara, believe he's INDYCAR bound. Which is great if he can get a break at Andretti, def. championship contender in Indy Lights.

@bella basicly you need few extra quid to snatch good engineer from top team or be an incredibly good driver, you can do a Pastor at Rapax.

@Peter Cammish it doesn't sound right to say a aint a talent I a pay driva - it reminds me some of Teixeira's quotes re. his position at caterham, or Senna, or you name him...

I think no one really cares how you got there , Ayrton came from an incredible wealthy family, but I think he felt the need to down play this part of his life , Tommy Byrnes book is good at working through this area.

I wish I had been more succesful and my son would now be in 3.5 Litre, good luck to those that were, I just wish the drivers didnt say daft things it devalues things in so many ways, also seen that Tio Elinas is in GP3 really good luck to him he is a good lad and drives very fairly and smooth so he should suit the formula.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by META4

Gravity is now called IRace Professional and they have dropped severall of their drivers

2012 Line Up

- Richie Stanaway FR3.5
- Kevin Korjus FR3.5
- Oscar Tunjo FR2.0
- Esteban Ocon FR2.0
- Dorian Boccolacci Karting


bye bye Witmann,Vietoris,tambay,Prost.....

Maybe the first two don't see the need to retain Gravity's services after being blessed by BMW and Merc respectively? Moving out of the open-wheel ladder hunt might change the value of their services to you.

[ASRoma]

Originally Posted by cmk

Maybe the first two don't see the need to retain Gravity's services after being blessed by BMW and Merc respectively? Moving out of the open-wheel ladder hunt might change the value of their services to you.

Prost is still part of the management but like Grosjean and D'ambrosio they are not in the academy as they are considered "professional"

Prost has a full time program in the lmp1 and from what I saw in Jerez he is very close to the f1 team...