Grand Prix World Series - Season two

## League One

Reliability woes couldn't stop Scott Dixon claiming his maiden GPWS title

## League Two

Despite entering mid-season, Will Power did well enough to win League 2

Season two of the Grand Prix World Series followed on from the inaugural season, marking the first time a series within the Retro Racing Manager's League has moved into a second season.

Jean-Eric Vergne entered as the reigning champion, while British American Racing was the reigning teams' champion.

Following the success of season one, a second league was set up to allow for more teams to enter the Grand Prix World Series. To allow for opportunities to fight for the honour of top team, the top three teams from League Two will be promoted into League One for season three, while the bottom three teams from League One will be demoted to League Two for season three.

The calendar was shaken up to allow different circuits to host a round of the Grand Prix World Series, with the season beginning in the Canadian city of Vancouver. However, the round was declared a non-championship event due to a mod glitch which caused multiple drivers to crash on pit exit. Mastercard Lola's Simona de Silvestro won the League One Vancouver Grand Prix, which turned out to be her and the team's only triumph ahead of a miserable season for the team.

The League Two Vancouver Grand Prix was won by Adrian Sutil and HRT, setting them up for a championship challenge.

At the mid-point of the season there was a Young Driver Test in which teams could evaluate their reserve drivers alongside a new signing. This was held at Istanbul following the Istanbul Grand Prix and led to a raft of driver changes as team managers compared their reserves against their race drivers.

Following a grueling season which saw many twists and turns with multiple drivers taking turns leading each championship, Scott Dixon secured his maiden Grand Prix World Series title in League 1 while Will Power stole the League 2 title away from Adrian Sutil at the final race of the season.

Super Aguri scored consistently throughout the season to take the League 1 teams' title and Leyton House dominated League 2 to secure the championship and promotion to League 1 for Season 3 along with Life and HRT. Prost, Midland Racing and Mastercard Lola were relegated to League 2 for Season 3 after ending the season outside of the top ten.

### Driver changes

* After previously being dropped from the British American Racing squad, Sebastien Buemi will make his return to the grid after being given back the seat he lost after the Brno Grand Prix.
* Paul di Resta departed the Mastercard Lola squad to join Midland Racing for season two.
* Having impressed in his five-race stint with Super Aguri, Robin Frijns was given a full-time seat for season two. After Timo Glock left the team at the end of the season to join new entrant Pacific Grand Prix, Super Aguri recalled Antonio Felix da Costa from Mastercard Lola and promoted him to a race seat.
* Owing to inconsistent form, Simtek took the decision to demote Stoffel Vandoorne to reserve driver and brought in seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup for his debut in the Grand Prix World Series.
* Minardi elected to completely overhaul its driver line-up for season two, promoting test driver Tom Kristensen to a race seat and hiring the services of Jos Verstappen in the second car. Season one race winner Marc Gene will continue with the team in a reserve capacity.
* Sebastien Bourdais, after failing to impress in season one, was dropped to a reserve role with Onyx Grand Prix and replaced by Japanese endurance ace Kazuki Nakajima.
* After Andre Lotterer left the AGS outfit at the end of season one, BMS Scuderia Italia snapped up the German alongside debutant Pietro Fittipaldi.
* Forti Corse dropped both Taki Inoue and Jean-Denis Deletraz from its line-up after the duo scored nine points between them in season one, replacing them with former Scuderia Ferrari substitute Mika Salo and multiple NASCAR title winner Jeff Gordon.
* Having left the Super Aguri fold mid-season, Nick Heidfeld returned to the grid with debuting team Zakspeed, partnering rookie Sam Bird.
* Taki Inoue moves on from the Forti Corse team to join new entrant Andrea Moda.
* Having been dropped by Midland Racing part way through season one, Enrique Bernoldi rejoins the GPWS grid with Fondmetal alongside fellow Brazilian Cristiano da Matta.
* Alexander Rossi moved from AGS to new team Larrousse for season two, partnering rookie Callum Ilott.
* Hollywood actor Tom Cruise drove for Manor in the non-championship Vancouver Grand Prix in order to collect footage for an upcoming movie. The full-time Manor seat went to Marco Andretti.
* American racing legend AJ Foyt made a one-off appearance in the Vancouver Grand Prix with the Modena outfit. Will Stevens took the seat for the season.

### Mid-season driver changes

* Nicola Larini was dropped by Midland Racing after one round, replaced by Tiago Montiero.
* After competing in the opening race for Pacific Grand Prix, Timo Glock was replaced by reserve driver Romain Grosjean to allow the Frenchman to be evaluated in a race seat.
* Martin Brundle moved from Life to Force India after the first race of the season, taking the seat of Al Unser Jr, who was dropped from the team. Marino Sato was promoted into a race seat at Life, with Antonio Fuoco taking up the reserve role.
* Following the Sepang Grand Prix, Leyton House took the decision to move reserve driver Will Power into a race seat and dropped Robert Wickens, with Pato O'Ward taking the reserve role.
* After failing to finish in the opening three races, Mark Blundell was demoted to the reserve driver role at Life, with Antonio Fuoco stepping up to make his GPWS race debut.
* Jaime Alguersuari picked up a one-race ban at the Sepang Grand Prix, with Felipe Nasr taking his seat at Prost for the next round at Yeongam.
* Andrea Moda sacked Taki Inoue following the Sepang Grand Prix, with the team sensationally signing MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi in his place.
* Simtek dropped Jamie Whincup to the reserve driver role after three rounds, promoting Stoffel Vandoorne back into a race seat.
* Lucas di Grassi made his return to the Grand Prix World Series with Zakspeed at the Yeongam Grand Prix, replacing Nick Heidfeld who was dropped to the reserve role at the team.
* Alex Albon was dropped from the AGS squad following the Yeongam Grand Prix, with former BAR racer Pascal Wehrlein being hired to replace the Anglo-Thai.
* Following the Fuji Grand Prix, Brendon Hartley was sensationally dropped by the Manor team and replaced by ex-AGS driver Alex Albon.
* Force India benched Alex Zanardi after the Fuji Grand Prix, promoting Jack Aitken into a race seat.
* Jeff Gordon lost his Forti Corse seat to Roy Nissany ahead of the Chennai Grand Prix.
* Leyton House dropped Alexander Wurz from its driver line-up after the Chennai Grand Prix, replacing him with Helio Castroneves.
* Timo Glock returned to a race seat with Pacific Grand Prix for Kyalami, joined by Manor outcast Brendon Hartley in a double driver change for the team.
* Oliver Turvey replaced Neel Jani at the Rial team in time for the Kyalami Grand Prix.
* Nyck de Vries substituted for Sebastien Buemi at the BAR team for the Kyalami Grand Prix. At the following race in Istanbul, he deputised for Jean-Eric Vergne in the other BAR.
* Onyx Grand Prix dropped Takuma Sato to the reserve role following the Kyalami Grand Prix, promoting Sebastien Bourdais back into a race seat.
* Andrea Moda gave Jerome d'Ambrosio a chance in a race seat for Istanbul in place of Vincenzo Sospiri.
* Changes following the Young Driver Test:
	+ Pedro de la Rosa was dropped from the Prost team and replaced by DTM star Marco Wittmann, who had impressed at the test.
	+ Minardi gave Daniel Juncadella a race seat after his test performance, taking Jos Verstappen's seat for the rest of the season.
	+ Nelson Piquet Jr. replaced Pietro Fittipaldi in a race seat at BMS Scuderia Italia.
	+ Lewis Williamson appeared at Midland Racing for a one-off evaluation in place of Tiago Monteiro.
	+ HRT promoted Alex Lynn into a race seat alongside Adrian Sutil, with Dario Franchitti remaining with the team in reserve.
	+ Sergio Sette Camara was given a race drive at Pacific Grand Prix, replacing Timo Glock who went down to the reserve role.
	+ Martin Brundle lost his seat at Force India prior to the Young Driver Test, with Sergey Sirotkin being awarded the drive following his test outing.
	+ Fondmetal did a double change, putting Gaston Mazzacane and Giorgio Pantano into race seats while Cristiano da Matta was retained as reserve driver.
* Perry McCarthy was dropped into the reserve role at Scuderia Coloni ahead of the Imola Grand Prix, with Christian Lundgaard taking his place.
* Following the Imola Grand Prix, Manor picked up Romain Grosjean and placed him into a race seat alonsgide Marco Andretti, with Alex Albon moving into the reserve role.
* Jack Aitken picked up a race ban for dangerous driving at the Magny-Cours Grand Prix. Force India elected to substitute Alex Zanardi into his place for the next round at Hockenheim.
* After crashing heavily at Magny-Cours, Lucas di Grassi was rested for three races with Jamie Green taking his seat at Zakspeed.
* Esteban Gutierrez made his GPWS debut at the Estoril Grand Prix, replacing Giorgio Pantano at Fondmetal.
* Prost dropped Jaime Alguersuari ahead of the Estoril Grand Prix, bringing in Artem Markelov as his replacement.
* Midland Racing gave Tomas Enge his Grand Prix World Series debut at the Brno Grand Prix, Enge's home event.
* Having spent the early part of the season as Manor's reserve driver, Jake Dennis made his race debut with Andrea Moda at the Brno Grand Prix after Valentino Rossi left to pursue a WEC career.
* In order to evaluate options for Season 3, Life substituted Juri Vips for Marino Sato at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix, with the Estonian then replacing Antonio Fuoco for the Laguna Seca Grand Prix.
* Larrousse gave Max Chilton his GPWS debut in place of Callum Ilott at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix.
* Having picked up a race ban for the season finale, Robin Frijns sat out the Laguna Seca Grand Prix with Super Aguri reserve Oliver Rowland stepping into his seat.
* Lewis Williamson was given a second opportunity with Midland Racing at the Laguna Seca Grand Prix in place of Tomas Enge.
* Forti Corse dropped Mika Salo ahead of the final round, bringing in Mahaveer Raghunathan for his GPWS debut.

## Results and standings

### Mid-Season Test

A mid-season test was run following the Istanbul Grand Prix, in which teams could give their reserve driver and an additional free agent an outing. The test was an hour long session with no limits on number of laps and allowed teams to collect additional data to help develop their cars.

Each of the test drivers followed the same criteria as the main drivers, in that they must have driven a Formula 1 car but never won a Grand Prix.

**League One**

**League Two**

### Scoring system

**Bold** indicates pole position

*Italics* indicates fastest lap

R indicates driver retired from Grand Prix

D indicates driver disqualified from Grand Prix

Cars must be classified to receive points

In the event of tied points, the driver with the most wins will take priority. If they are still tied, it then goes down to most second places, most third places and so on until a result is declared. In the highly unlikely event of a complete tie, the cars will share the position.