Caterham Racing (GP2 team)

Caterham Racing, formerly EQ8 Caterham Racing and Caterham Team AirAsia was a motor racing team competing in the GP2 Series and GP2 Asia Series. It was created by Tony Fernandes, who was also responsible for the revival of the Lotus name in Formula 1 in 2010 with the creation of the Lotus Racing team. Team AirAsia was officially accepted to the GP2 Series grid on 21 September 2010, along with fellow debutants Carlin Motorsport, filling the gap left by the departures of Durango and DPR. The team made their debut at the first round of the 2010–11 GP2 Asia Series.

Caterham Racing
Founded2010 (as Team AirAsia)
Folded2014
Team principal(s)Mia Sharizman
Former seriesGP2 Asia Series
GP2 Series
Noted drivers Alexander Rossi
Davide Valsecchi
Giedo van der Garde

In addition to being owned by the Caterham Group that owned Caterham F1 Team, Caterham Racing shared deep technical links with its Formula One parent team. The GP2 operation was embedded within the Formula One operation and base, and the two teams shared the same technical staff. Caterham Racing's (then Team Air Asia) drivers also served as Caterham F1 Team's (then called Team Lotus) test and reserve drivers in the 2011 Formula One season.[1][2]

The outfit was originally called Team AirAsia. The Caterham designation was added to the official name in June 2011, following Fernandes' purchase of the company. For the 2012 season the team was again renamed as Caterham Racing to coincide with the renaming of the Formula 1 outfit.

In October 2014 GP3 Series team Status Grand Prix acquired the team from Tony Fernandes.[3] The team still operated under the Caterham name for the remainder of the 2014 season and starting from 2015 the team became known as Status Grand Prix.

Racing history

2011 season

The Caterham Team AirAsia logo as used by the team during the 2011 season.

For its first year in GP2, Caterham signed the experienced duo of Luiz Razia and Davide Valsecchi for both the Asia Series and main series seasons. Both drivers also became test drivers for Tony Fernandes's Formula One team, at this stage known as Team Lotus, and took part in a number of Friday free practice sessions during the F1 season.[4] After finishing seventh in the teams' championship in the truncated Asia Series, Valsecchi began the main series strongly, scoring points six times in the first eight races of the year, including the team's first victory in the feature race at Monaco, which propelled him into contention for the drivers' championship. However, he then failed to score during the remainder of the season, dropping him to eight overall. Razia took over as the team's driving force, securing Caterham's first pole position at the Hungaroring and ending the season twelfth in the standings. The team finished sixth in the teams' championship, well ahead of fellow debutantes Carlin.

Caterham's livery began the season with AirAsia's red-and-white, but switched mid-season to be more in-line with the Team Lotus.

2012 season

In January 2012, it was announced that Caterham would be proposed moving to the Leafield Technical Centre (the previous headquarters of the Arrows and Super Aguri F1 teams) in Leafield, Oxfordshire, with its parent F1 team, now renamed as the Caterham F1 Team and Caterham Cars. And in August 2012, Caterham Racing GP2 eventually completed its relocation to Leafield Technical Centre along with Caterham F1 Team and Caterham Cars.

On the driving front, both Razia and Valsecchi moved to other teams and were replaced by Rodolfo González (who tested for the F1 team in 2010) and Giedo van der Garde. In a continuation of the previous season's policy, Van der Garde also became the Caterham F1 team's test and reserve driver. Following the abandonment of the Asia Series, both drivers competed in an expanded main series season: team leader Van der Garde scored a brace of race victories, pole positions and fastest laps, but failed to trouble the championship protagonists and finished the year sixth overall, whilst González picked up six points and finished in 22nd position. Caterham dropped one position in the teams' championship to seventh.

Results

GP2 Series

Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2011 Dallara-Mecachrome Luiz Razia 18 0 1 0 19 12th 6th
Davide Valsecchi 18 1 0 1 30 8th
2012 Dallara-Mecachrome Rodolfo González 24 0 0 0 6 22nd 7th
Giedo van der Garde 24 2 2 2 160 6th
2013 Dallara-Mecachrome Sergio Canamasas 22 0 0 0 3 25th 9th
Ma Qinghua 4 0 0 0 0 35th
Alexander Rossi 18 1 1 0 92 9th
2014 Dallara-Mecachrome Alexander Rossi 10 0 0 0 11 21st 11th
Rio Haryanto 22 0 0 0 28 15th
Tom Dillmann 6 0 0 1 4 19th
Pierre Gasly 6 0 0 0 0 26th

GP2 Asia Series

Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2011 Dallara-Mecachrome Luiz Razia 4 0 0 0 0 25th 7th
Davide Valsecchi 4 0 0 0 9 7th

GP2 Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 T.C. Points
2011 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
6th 49
Luiz Razia 6 18 Ret Ret Ret 20 6 2 17 14 Ret 14 3 7 Ret Ret 10 9
Davide Valsecchi 16 16 4 4 1 5 3 4 14 17 13 Ret 16 14 10 10 20 Ret
2012 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
BHR1
FEA
BHR1
SPR
BHR2
FEA
BHR2
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MRN
FEA
MRN
SPR
7th 166
Rodolfo González Ret 18 15 20 18 15 15 14 13 5 15 15 23 Ret 23 20 23 16 Ret 14 22 20 Ret 18
Giedo van der Garde 9 4 Ret 9 3 19 1 6 3 3 11 6 8 21 5 2 5 10 5 21 Ret 10 8 1
2013 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MRN
FEA
MRN
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
9th 95
Sergio Canamasas 19 15 20 11 Ret 14 15 11 23 20 12 17 Ret Ret Ret 12 9 11 19 Ret 12 8
Ma Qinghua 21 DNS
Alexander Rossi 3 20 6 6 Ret 19 10 9 11 6 13 16 3 22 8 2 Ret 23 1 Ret
2014 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
11th 42
Rio Haryanto 16 16 5 Ret 7 3 11 17 21 Ret 22† 10 Ret 17 Ret 16 16 15 18 15 9 12
Alexander Rossi 22 25 Ret 14 16 11 8 5 12 21
Tom Dillmann 12 9 9 19† 12 9
Pierre Gasly 17 Ret 11 11 21 18

GP2 Asia Series

Year Chassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers 1 2 3 4 T.C. Points
2011 GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
IMO
FEA
IMO
SPR
7th 9
Luiz Razia Ret 16 Ret 14
Davide Valsecchi 3 4 DSQ 17

References

  1. Noble, Jonathan (18 October 2010). "Interview with Mike Gascoyne". Autosport. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  2. Noble, Jonathan; Elizalde, Pablo (18 October 2010). "Lotus: GP2 team a boost for F1 squad". Autosport. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
  3. "Status Grand Prix takeover Caterham Racing and joins GP2 Series". GP2 Series. GP2 Motorsport Limited. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. "2011 Test Driver Line-up". teamlotus.co.uk. Team Lotus. 11 March 2011. Archived from the original on 13 March 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
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