iSport International

iSport International was a British motor racing team that competed in the GP2 Series. The team was founded by Paul Jackson, Gavin Bickerton-Jones and Richard Selwin, former members of the Petrobras Junior Team in 2004, ahead of the inaugural GP2 season. Their factory is based in Carleton Rode near Norwich in the United Kingdom.

iSport International
Founded2004
Folded2014
Team principal(s)Paul Jackson
Former seriesGP2 Series[lower-alpha 1]
GP2 Asia Series
Noted drivers Sam Bird
Karun Chandhok
Marcus Ericsson
Timo Glock
Bruno Senna
Scott Speed
Oliver Turvey
Davide Valsecchi
Giedo van der Garde
Ernesto Viso
Andreas Zuber
Teams'
Championships
GP2 Series:
2007
GP2 Asia Series:
2009-10
Drivers'
Championships
GP2 Series:
2007: Timo Glock
GP2 Asia Series:
2009-10: Davide Valsecchi

iSport's most successful season in GP2 came in 2007, when they won the teams' title, with Timo Glock winning the drivers' championship. The team finished second in 2008, and won the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series drivers' and teams' championship. They pulled out of the GP2 series before the 2013 season, after encountering financial difficulties. iSport returned to motorsport in 2014, running a GP2 team for Russian Time.

Racing history

GP2 Series

The inaugural season of the GP2 series saw iSport take the fastest time in the shoot-out for race numbers, giving drivers Scott Speed and Can Artam numbers 1 and 2 for the season. While the team was regularly fast at races, neither driver was able to win a race. Nevertheless, Speed finished third in the championship with consistent points-scoring finishes, whilst Artam was 22nd overall with two points. iSport finished the season in fourth place in the teams' championship. For 2006, Speed graduated to Formula One with a drive at Scuderia Toro Rosso and Artam left the series. iSport filled its seats with Ernesto Viso and Tristan Gommendy, the latter of whom was later replaced by Timo Glock at the mid-season point. Viso took the team's first two victories in the category and Glock added two more; the part-season driver overhauling his teammate's points tally to finish the year fourth overall in the drivers' standings, with Viso sixth and Gommendy 20th. iSport improved to third in the teams' championship.

Bruno Senna driving for iSport at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season.

Glock remained with the team for 2007 and was joined by 2006 race winner Andreas Zuber. Glock won five races on his way to the championship title, prevailing in a season-long duel with Lucas di Grassi (ART Grand Prix). Zuber supported him with a single further victory on his way to ninth overall, although the teammates embarrassingly collided whilst accelerating away from the front row of the grid at the feature race of the round held at Magny-Cours. To cap a successful year, iSport also won its first teams' championship. For the 2008 season, iSport joined the GP2 Asia Series in its inaugural year, signing Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok. After a low-key Asia campaign, which saw the team finish fifth in the standings, the Senna-Chandhok combination was retained for the main series season, in which Senna emerged as champion Giorgio Pantano's main rival, accumulating two victories on his way to the runner-up position in the drivers' table. Chandhok also won a race and finished tenth overall; iSport ended the season second in the teams' championship to the Barwa International Campos Team.

For the 2008-09 Asia Series season, the departing driver line-up was replaced with reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Giedo van der Garde and a series-encouraged Asian driver, Hamad Al Fardan. Van der Garde and Al Fardan scored 13 points between them, resulting in an eighth-place championship finish for the team. For the 2009 main series, Van der Garde was retained with Diego Nunes replacing Al Fardan; Van der Garde won three races but only managed seventh in the drivers' championship, whilst Nunes was back in 20th. iSport finished fifth overall in the teams' championship. Both drivers then moved on, and were replaced by Davide Valsecchi and Oliver Turvey for both the 2009-10 Asia Series and the 2010 main series. In the Asia Series, Valsecchi won three races and sealed the championship title, with rookie driver Turvey backing him up to take sixth overall, allowing iSport to win the Asia teams' championship for the first time. In the main series, however, the team was unable to maintain this level of form: Valsecchi ended the season strongly with the outfit's sole victory at Yas Marina, but was overshadowed by Turvey, who concluded the year sixth in the drivers' championship to Valsecchi's eighth. iSport maintained its fifth place in the teams' championship.

iSport again signed two new drivers—Sam Bird and Marcus Ericsson—for the abortive 2011 Asia Series and the 2011 main series. On this occasion, neither driver won a race: Bird finished sixth in the final standings with a single position, with Ericsson four places behind him but the team improving to fourth overall. Ericsson was retained for 2012, with Jolyon Palmer signed from the Arden team to replace the Formula Renault 3.5-bound Bird. The drivers' fortunes improved, as they took a race victory apiece, but iSport slipped to sixth in the teams' championship at season's end.

The iSport GP2 contract was acquired by RT Russian Time for the 2013 season.

Formula One

The iSport team was believed to have been evaluating an entry to Formula One, but team principal Paul Jackson said that he was waiting for the FIA to finalise its plans to cap budgets in the sport before making any solid plans. "For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible. When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors." iSport's possible F1 entry was cancelled after they pulled out of GP2.[1]

Results

GP2 Series

i Sport International
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2005 Dallara-Mecachrome Scott Speed 23 0 1 5 57.5 3rd 4th
Can Artam 23 0 0 0 2 22nd
2006 Dallara-Mecachrome Ernesto Viso 21 2 0 1 42 6th 3rd
Tristan Gommendy 9 0 0 0 6 20th
Timo Glock 12 2 0 1 58† 4th
2007 Dallara-Mecachrome Timo Glock 21 5 4 4 92 1st 1st
Andreas Zuber 21 1 1 2 30 9th
2008 Dallara-Mecachrome Karun Chandhok 20 1 0 0 31 10th 2nd
Bruno Senna 20 2 3 1 64 2nd
2009 Dallara-Mecachrome Giedo van der Garde 20 3 0 0 34 7th 5th
Diego Nunes 20 0 0 0 8 20th
2010 Dallara-Mecachrome Oliver Turvey 20 0 1 0 47 6th 5th
Davide Valsecchi 20 1 1 0 31 8th
2011 Dallara-Mecachrome Sam Bird 18 0 1 0 45 6th 4th
Marcus Ericsson 18 0 0 0 25 10th
2012 Dallara-Mecachrome Marcus Ericsson 24 1 0 0 124 8th 6th
Jolyon Palmer 24 1 0 0 78 11th

† Glock had scored 5 points for BCN Competición during the first 9 races of the season.

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
2005 GP2/05
Renault
B
SMR
FEA
SMR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
4th 69.5
Scott Speed 3 Ret 2 3 4 16 12 15 18 4 2 4 3 Ret 19 5 4 Ret 15 4 4 Ret 19
Can Artam 16† Ret Ret Ret 7 17 Ret 17 16 18 14 Ret 20 14 12 11 16 9 9 Ret 22† 17 16
2006 GP2/05
Renault
B
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SMR
FEA
SMR
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
3rd 101
Ernesto Viso 8 2 6 1 6 11 8 1 Ret Ret 8 10 Ret 5 4 4 4 Ret 13 Ret 10
Tristan Gommendy Ret 11 Ret 17 13 12 5 5 Ret
Timo Glock 2 6 1 4 3 1 2 5 4 4 Ret DNS
2007 GP2/05
Renault
B
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
1st 118
Timo Glock 2 2 2 1 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 5 10 Ret 4 1 3 1 17 DNS 7 1
Andreas Zuber 3 Ret DNS 9 Ret Ret 15 1 6 Ret 21 3 6 Ret 14 Ret 5 18 12 12 12
2008 GP2/08
Renault
B
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
FEA
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
2nd 95
Karun Chandhok 9 Ret 4 12 3 Ret 7 Ret 3 Ret 8 1 4 DNS 15† Ret 10 7 11 Ret
Bruno Senna 2 4 15 Ret 1 5 Ret 5 6 1 4 3 3 3 9 Ret 11 Ret 5 9
2009 GP2/08
Renault
B
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
FEA
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
ALG
FEA
ALG
SPR
5th 42
Giedo van der Garde 7 4 NC 11 15 13 Ret 13 12 Ret 7 1 14 Ret 6 1 1 6 Ret 6
Diego Nunes 11 8 Ret 14 11 11 11 Ret Ret 11 Ret 15 11 5 9 3 10 Ret 12 5
2010 GP2/08
Renault
B
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
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
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
5th 78
Oliver Turvey 5 5 15 15 14 18 Ret 12 8 2 8 2 4 5 6 5 3 6 2 17
Davide Valsecchi 10 11 Ret 16 2 4 10 6 7 6 17 18 9 3 18 8 9 16 5 1
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
4th 70
Sam Bird 2 3 3 5 Ret 13 5 12 5 6 8 7 17 5 12 5 4 4
Marcus Ericsson 9 8 5 3 Ret Ret Ret 11 3 4 5 16† 5 16 Ret 12 14 8
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
6th 202
Marcus Ericsson 13 Ret 13 16 7 7 13 22 2 4 2 Ret 21 7 11 15 18 Ret 1 4 3 7 7 2
Jolyon Palmer 17 12 DNS 7 24† 22 9 DNS 6 1 Ret Ret 3 5 18 18 6 5 Ret 10 7 3 Ret Ret
RT Russian Time
Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles F.L. Points D.C. T.C.
2014 Dallara-Mecachrome Mitch Evans 6 0 0 0 24 9th 5th
Artem Markelov 6 0 0 0 0 18th

GP2 Asia Series

Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C. T.C.
2008 Dallara-Mecachrome Karun Chandhok 10 0 0 0 7 13th 5th
Bruno Senna 10 0 0 3 23 5th
2008–09 Dallara-Mecachrome Giedo van der Garde 11 0 0 0 11 12th 8th
Hamad Al Fardan 11 0 0 0 2 20th
2009–10 Dallara-Mecachrome Oliver Turvey 8 1 0 0 17 6th 1st
Davide Valsecchi 8 3 1 4 56 1st
2011 Dallara-Mecachrome Marcus Ericsson 4 0 0 0 9 6th 5th
Sam Bird 4 0 0 0 2 12th

Footnotes

  1. Operation Team at Russian Time team in 2014

References

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Achievements
Preceded by
ART Grand Prix
GP2 Series Teams' Champion
2007
Succeeded by
Campos Racing
Preceded by
DAMS
GP2 Asia Series Teams' Champion
2009–10
Succeeded by
DAMS
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