BOSS GP

The BOSS GP Series is a motor racing series in Europe. The category originated in 1995 as the BOSS Formula series and evolved into the EuroBOSS Series.

BOSS GP
BOSS GP Series
CategorySingle seaters
CountryEurope
Inaugural season1995
Constructors
Tyre suppliersPirelli
Drivers' championOpen Class:
Ingo Gerstl
Formula Class:
Marco Ghiotto
Official websiteBOSS GP
Current season

BOSS is an acronym that stands for Big Open Single Seaters.

History

The drivers of the BOSS GP Series shortly before the rolling start at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria
Ingo Gerstl of Top Speed in the Toro Rosso STR1. He has been BOSS GP Open Class Champion from 2016-2020, was the Formula Class champion in 2011 and was the EuroBOSS champion in 2008.
Phil Stratford of PENN-Elcom Racing in the Benetton B197. He was BOSS GP Open Class Vice-Champion in 2018
Florian Schnitzenbaumer of Top Speed in a Dallara GP2/08. He was BOSS GP Formula Class Champion in 2018
Andreas Fiedler of Fiedler Racing in a Dallara GP2/05. He was BOSS GP Formula Class Vice-Champion in 2018
Chris Eicke of Speed Center in a Dallara GP2/08. He came third in the BOSS GP Formula Class in 2018
Group 9 BOSS cars racing at Road America, 2007

The BOSS series was founded in 1995 under the regulations of the RAC Motor Sports Association and raced mainly in Great Britain.[1] The series grew in popularity and later expanded to Europe,[2] being renamed to European BOSS (shortened by the competitors to EuroBOSS) following the European expansion and the involvement of Paul Stoddart's European Aviation. The move to Europe resulted in increased investment into the series and an increased number of Formula 1 cars taking part in races.[2] It mainly saw grids of around 12–15 cars, but on some occasions as few as five cars competed in a race.

After the 2009 EuroBOSS season Marijn van Kalmthout, Klaas Zwart (founder of Ascari Cars and the Ascari Race Resort), Henk de Boer and Frits van Eerd decided to split off and organize their own race series. This ended up becoming BOSS GP. EuroBOSS continued on into 2010. BOSS GP flourished, with many drivers making the switch to the new series, whilst EuroBOSS saw smaller and smaller numbers. Eventually, the final 3 races of the 2010 EuroBOSS season were cancelled and the series was disbanded, with competitors switching over to BOSS GP.

Most BOSS GP entries are more recent secondary level single-seaters such as GP2 cars and Renault World Series cars along with a small number of 90s and 00s Formula 1 cars, but common EuroBOSS entries included Formula One machines from Benetton, Jordan, Tyrrell, Minardi and on occasions a V12 Ferrari. Other frequent entrants in BOSS series have been Lola and Reynard CART chassis, the 1997-2002 Panoz (aka G-Force) and Dallara IndyCar chassis. From 2012, the 2003-2011 Dallara and Panoz Champ Car chassis have also been used after the switch to the new IndyCar formula.

The series is mainly populated by wealthy gentleman drivers, although efforts have been made to attract more young drivers who want experience with Formula 1 or Formula 2-level machinery.[1] BOSS GP removes a lot of the restrictions present in the majority of Formula series, allowing weight and power restrictions to be abandoned as long as they comply to the FIA safety requirements.[1] The series uses Pirelli tyres that have a larger operating window than those in F1 and F2; this is mainly designed to help the gentleman drivers, but they still behave similarly enough to the P-Zeros used in F2 to provide a valid reference for the younger drivers.[1] BOSS GP also has fairly loose restrictions on testing, something which many junior drivers have exploited to gain experience with new circuits, new cars and learning how to handle cars with high levels of downforce.[1]

As of 2013 two rounds of the BOSS GP series have formed an official German championship sanctioned by the DMSB. In the 2018 season, BOSS GP ran a support race for two major motorsports events (the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and the Red Bull Ring round of the DTM Championship[3]) for the first time. The series later supported DTM at Assen in 2019 and Spa-Francorchamps in 2020.[4] It also expressed an interest in taking part in the planned 70 years of F1 celebrations at Silverstone[1] before those plans were cancelled entirely due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2020 the championship ran with a reduced season; the planned Misano and Hockenheim rounds were forced to be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions,[5] reducing the 2020 season to four weekends.[6]

Notable drivers who have raced in BOSS, EuroBOSS and BOSS GP include Scott Mansell (who won the EuroBOSS championship in 2004), IndyCar driver Rinus VeeKay, former Minardi driver Tarso Marques and former Formula 2 driver Mahaveer Raghunathan.[1] Romain Grosjean also did some test sessions with BOSS GP regulars Top Speed before his return to F1 with Lotus in 2012.[1]

Similar series

EuroBOSS was the European equivalent of USBOSS and OZBOSS. EuroBOSS tended to mainly have F1 Cars, whilst USBOSS consisted mainly of Indy and Champ Cars and OZBOSS tended to have Formula 4000 or equivalent.

Cars

Over the years the classes have been updated. Relatively new cars like the Dallara GP2/08 (GP2), Dallara T08 (WSbR) and Lola B05/52 (A1GP/Auto GP/FA1) have recently been raced in the series, as well as some Formula 1 cars from the 00s such as the Toro Rosso STR1, Super Aguri SA06, Jaguar R3 and Jaguar R5. For 2010, EuroBOSS allowed the Tatuus N.T07 International Formula Master car to race in the series; this car was never allowed in the BOSS GP series.

Actual classes and cars in the BOSS GP Series:

BOSS GP OPEN-Class
Entitled types: Formula 1 cars built from 1996, Lotus T125, Rodin FZED, Champ Car and IndyCar built from 2008
BOSS GP FORMULA-Class
Entitled types: GP2/F2, Auto GP, A1GP, FA1, Superleague Formula, World Series by Nissan/RenaultV8
BOSS GP PRESTIGE-Class
Entitled types: World Series by Nissan/RenaultV6, Formula 3000 build from 2002

Champions

BOSS Formula & EuroBOSS

Season Champion Team Champion
BOSS Formula
1995 Klaus Panchyrz Mönninghoff Racing
1996 Johan Rajamaki Rajamaki Racing
1997 Nigel Greensall European Aviation
1998 Nigel Greensall European Aviation
1999 Tony Worswick Worswick Engineering
2000 Dave Hutchinson Kockney Koi Yamitsu
EuroBOSS
2001 Tony Worswick Worswick Engineering
2002 Earl Goddard Kockney Koi Yamitsu
2003 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari
2004 Scott Mansell Mansell Motorsport
2005 Patrick d’Aubreby Team Griffiths/Team Ascari
2006 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari
2007 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari
2008 Ingo Gerstl TopSpeed
2009 Henk de Boer De Boer Manx
2010 Damien Charveriat Zele Racing

BOSS GP Series

Season Open Champion Team Champion Secondary Class Champion
2010 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari M: Karl Heinz Becker
2011 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari F: Ingo Gerstl
M: Norbert Gruber
2012 Klaas Zwart Team Ascari F: Bernd Herndlhofer
M: Johann Ledermair
2013 Gary Hauser Racing Experience F: Gary Hauser
M: Hans Laub
2014 Jakub Śmiechowski Inter Europol Competition F: Jakub Śmiechowski
M: Hans Laub
2015 Klaas Zwart not awarded F: Johann Ledermair
M: Hans Laub
2016 Ingo Gerstl not awarded F: Christopher Brenier
2017 Ingo Gerstl not awarded F: Mahaveer Raghunathan
2018 Ingo Gerstl not awarded F: Florian Schnitzenbaumer
2019 Ingo Gerstl not awarded F: Marco Ghiotto
2020 Ingo Gerstl not awarded F: Marco Ghiotto

References

  1. Wood, Elliot (24 July 2019). "The gentleman driver series that could put youngsters on the map". Formula Scout. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  2. Arbon, Adam (31 August 2016). "BOSS GP: A motorsport series going from strength to strength". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  3. "TREND-SETTING: BOSS GP WITH DTM IN SPIELBERG". BOSS GP. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  4. van der Walt, Andries (31 July 2020). "BOSS GP Is Ready For Spa". Rallystar. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  5. "CANCELLATION MISANO AND HOCKENHEIM". BOSS GP. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  6. https://www.bossgp.com/races/?season=2020
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