The GP2 leaves Bahrain and Russia but returns to Malaysia
The 2016 GP2 season calendar has just been unveiled: it does include Azerbaijan. However, Bahrain and Russia are no longer on the schedule while Malaysia returns for the first time since 2013.
Once again, the GP2 will have eleven events on its calendar. However, compared to 2015, there are some significant changes.
To begin, Germany is regaining its place after a year of absence due to the cancellation of the Nurburgring race, as no agreement was reached between the Nurburgring and the circuit organizers. GP2 had then compensated for this cancellation with a second race weekend in Bahrain, alongside the 6 Hours of WEC, which took place the weekend before the Abu Dhabi finale.
Then came the question of arriving in Azerbaijan at the same time as F1. Indeed, the race on the shores of the Caspian Sea poses some logistical problems, especially for the F1 teams who will be in Canada the previous week. For the GP2 teams, the constraints will be somewhat less since they do not travel across the Atlantic. Furthermore, this stage replaces another event in the region as GP2 will not be accompanying F1 to Sochi, Russia, which helps to balance costs.
On the other hand, the teams will revisit a destination they hadn’t been to since 2013, namely Malaysia, which is now scheduled for September. In recent years, Asian destinations were no longer on the calendar due to cost reasons. However, with a company like Jagonya Ayam investing heavily in sports, through Sean Gelael and Campos, and another Indonesian representative, Philo Paz Armand, the destination seems economically interesting again.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
