Junior Open Wheel Talent

This is a bit dated now, but still worthy of mention.... Formula 3 Euro Series driver Stefano Coletti will replace Davide Valsecchi at Durango for the GP2 Round at Valencia.

Coletti, who is a former Red Bull Junior, has been running in the F3 Euro Series for the last two seasons. He made one start in the World Series by Renault earlier this year (at Monte Carlo--where he finished 10th). In the F3 Euro Series, he has had a decent year. He is currently ninth in the championship with 6 top-tens, 1 win, and 2 podiums. Obviously, GP2 will be a huge jump for him, but not an impossible transition.

Davide Valsecchi will be moving into the GP2 seat at Barwa Addax vacated by Romain Grosjean. Grosjean will be moving to Formula 1 as a replacement for Nelson Piquet at Renault.

Valsecchi was really strong in GP2 Asia while driving for Durango but failed to really carry that success over (on a consistent basis) to the GP2 Championship this spring. His best finish is 3rd, which came at Istanbul in early June. He started 10th in that race. His average finish in GP2 this season has been 13.5 (which includes 2-DNF's). It will be interesting to see how he performs at Barwa Addax. Obviously, it should prove to be a beneficial move as he will now be part of the Renault Driver Development program.

(photo: www.stefanocoletti.com)

Former Indy Car/ Indy Lights competitor Franck Perera will be back in a race car this weekend for the GP2 event at the Nurburgring. He will be replacing Italian Giacomo Ricci in the DPR seat. As of right now, this is a one-off opportunity.

It will be interesting to see what kind of results Perera is able to post after being out of the car for so long.

French-Italian driver Edoardo Mortara will be testing a GP2 car this week for both Team Arden and Trident Racing. Mortara finished second in the overall F3 Euro Series Championship in 2008 driving for Signature-Plus. He only claimed one victory (Pau) this season, but could have been named "Mr. Consistency" as he finished on the podium six times. After spending the last two years in the F3 Euro Series, 21 year old Mortara will look to take the next step in 2009.

Mortara will follow up his GP2 test at Jerez with the prestigious Macau F3 Grand Prix on November 15-16.

World Series by Renault champion Giedo van der Garde signed with iSport International earlier this week to drive for the team in the upcoming GP2 Asia Series. Having already claimed the WSR Championship with 5 wins, 2 poles, and 8 podiums driving for P1 Motorsport, the Dutchman will skip the series finale in Barcelona in order to make his GP2 Asia debut in Shanghai October 17th.

At only 23 years of age, Giedo has a ton of car experience; which should aide him in his transition to GP2. His success this season with iSport International in the GP2 Asia series with likely determine whether or not he has a seat in the GP2 main series for 2009. This will be a tell-tale year for the aspiring F1 driver. He had a lot of success this season, so it will be interesting to see if he can carry the momentum over to the next step.

Drivers from different junior formula series across the globe have gathered in Le Castellet for a two day GP2 test at Paul Ricard. All drivers in attendance are focused on one thing, a future Formula One ride. In order to have a legitimate shot at that dream, they must make the right impression with the GP2 teams they are testing for. Several drivers have elected to test for more than one team, due to a lack of funded drivers in attendance. Teams were slow to announce their drivers as many of the deals were arranged last minute, in fact, a few teams are yet to announce their drivers for Day #2. The teams are focused on signing their drivers for the GP2 Asia Series (Shanghai is less than three weeks away) and finalize their 2009 contracts.

Here is a list I was able to put together of drivers trying out for GP2/GP2 Asia. The list contains current GP2 pilots hoping to remain on the circuit as well as several rookie drivers trying to attain a spot at the final stop on the motorsports ladder to F1.

Arden: Renger Van der Zande (Day 1), Kodai Tsukakoshi (Both Days), Mika Maki (Day 2)

ART: Oliver Turvey (Day 1), Paul Di Resta (Day 1), Nelson Phillippe (Day 2), Diego Nunes (Day 2)

BCN: Fabio Onidi (Day 1), Bertrand Baguette (Day 1), Dani Clos (Both Days)

Campos: Vitaly Petrov (Day 1), Sergio Perez (Day 1), Ho Pin Tung (Day 2), Jerome D’ Ambrosio (Day 2)

Dams: Sam Bird (Day 1), Kamui Kobayashi (Both Days), James Jakes (Day 2)

DPR: Michael Herck (Both Days), Will Bratt (Day 1), Luca Filippi (Day 2)

Durango: Davide Valsecchi (Both Days), Carlos Iaconelli (Both Days)

FMSI: Andreas Zuber (Both Days), Fabrizio Crestani (Both Days)

iSport: Nelson Phillippe (Day 1), Diego Nunes (Day 1), Marcus Ericsson (Day 2), Oliver Turvey (Day 2)

Piquet: Alberto Valerio (Day 1), Roldan Rodriguez (Day 1), Milos Pavlovic (Day 2), Fabio Onidi (Day 2)

Racing Engineering: Luiz Razia (Both Days), Christian Ebbesvik (Day 1), Markus Niemela (Day 2)

Super Nova: Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Both Days), James Jakes (Day 1), Alberto Valerio (Day 2)

Trident: Chris Van der Drift (Both Days), Narain Karthikeyan (Both Days)

Day 1: Morning Test Results
Day 1: Afternoon Test Results

Day 2: Morning Test Results

Several GP2 drivers took to the streets of Valencia in various race cars to learn the circuit prior to next month's Grand Prix. The event marked the first time a race vehicle traveled the circuit. Giorgio Pantano, Mike Conway, Luca Filippi, Vitaly Petrov, Ho-Pin Tung, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Javier Villa and Pastor Maldonado all took part in the GT class. Roldan Rodriguez took part in the GTA class. Bruno Senna, Andi Zuber, Davide Valsecchi and Vitaly Petrov (doubling his track time) used the Spanish F3 cars to learn the circuit, despite not being allowed to enter the SF3 race.

Mike Conway and Ho-Pin Tung didn't have any trouble learning the circuit as they teamed up for the GT Open class and took the win in Race #1.

In GP2 news, there is a rumor that Brazilian driver Alberto Valerio will be replaced by Ben Hanley at Durango. I will say the substitution wouldn't be a huge surprise as Valerio hasn't had the season he expected and really hasn't turned too many heads since his days in the Formula 3 Sudamericana Championship. Hanley on the other hand has a pretty decent resume under his belt, with recent wins in the World Series by Renault and the Formula Renault 2.0 (Italy) series.

Giving the rumor even more strength... Hanley drove for Durango earlier this year in the GP2 series replacing the injured Davide Valsecchi.

I received an email this morning confirming that Italian GP2 veteran Luca Filippi has parted ways with Team ART and signed with Arden International. The Italian driver will replace current Arden driver Yelmer Buurman, joining Sebastien Buemi under the team tent. Many who follow GP2 anticipated the move as Filippi wasn't happy with his current seat at ART. His results with Arden will largely determine his future in single seater competition. Filippi will also be driving an Aston Martin sports car later this month for Team Villois. This may very well be a sign of things to come.

In other GP2 news, current German F3 driver Hamad Al Fardan of Bahrain has signed with iSport International to compete in the 2009 GP2 Asia Championship.