The 2009 GP2 Series season was the forty-third season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also fifth season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season consisted of twenty races at ten rounds, beginning on 9 May at the Circuit de Catalunya and finishing on 20 September at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The Algarve circuit hosted its first GP2 weekend, and was the only new circuit on the calendar. The Nürburgring also returned as part of its rotation with Hockenheim as the home of the German Grand Prix.
The title was won by German rookie Nico Hülkenberg at the penultimate round of the championship at Monza, the first time the series had been won before the final round. His team ART Grand Prix claimed the teams title in the Algarve.
Barwa Addax's title contender Romain Grosjean left the series mid-season to join the Renault for the remainder of the Formula One season following Nelson Piquet Jr.'s sacking.
Champion Hülkenberg, runner-up Petrov and 3rd place Lucas di Grassi all drove in the 2010 Formula One season for Williams, Renault and new team Virgin Racing respectively. 16th place Kamui Kobayashi took part in the final two races of the 2009 Formula One season for Toyota following Timo Glock's injury in the Japanese Grand Prix while 18th place Karun Chandhok joined new Formula One team HRT in 2010.
Teams and drivers All of the teams used the Dallara GP2/08 chassis with Renault-badged 4.0 litre (244 cu in) naturally-aspirated Mecachrome V8 engines order and with tyres supplied by Bridgestone. Team Driver name Rounds Barwa Campos Team (1) Barwa Addax Team (2–10) 1 Vitaly Petrov All 2 Romain Grosjean 1–6 Davide Valsecchi 7–10 iSport International 3 Giedo van der Garde All 4 Diego Nunes All Piquet GP 5 Roldán Rodríguez All 6 Alberto Valerio All Fat Burner Racing Engineering 7 Lucas di Grassi All 8 Dani Clos All ART Grand Prix 9 Pastor Maldonado All 10 Nico Hülkenberg All Telmex Arden International 11 Sergio Pérez All 12 Edoardo Mortara All Super Nova Racing 14 Luca Filippi All 15 Javier Villa All DAMS 16 Jérôme d'Ambrosio All 17 Kamui Kobayashi All Trident Racing 18 Ricardo Teixeira All 19 Davide Rigon 1–4, 6–10 Rodolfo González 5 FMSI (1–6) Party Poker Racing.com SC (7–10) 20 Andreas Zuber 1–7, 9–10 21 Luiz Razia 1–7, 9–10 Durango 22 Davide Valsecchi 1–6 Stefano Coletti 7–8 23 Nelson Panciatici 1–8 Ocean Racing Technology 24 Karun Chandhok All 25 Álvaro Parente All DPR 26 Michael Herck All 27 Giacomo Ricci 1–4 Franck Perera 5–8 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 9–10Sources:
Team changes BCN Competición was bought by Tiago Monteiro, who moved the team to Portugal and renamed it Ocean Racing Technology. Campos Grand Prix became Barwa Addax after it was bought by Alejandro Agag. Midseason changes Fisichella Motor Sport became PartyPokerRacing.com Scuderia Coloni prior to round seven in Valencia. They were then forced to miss round eight at Spa due to unresolved financial disputes. Durango missed round nine at Monza as Stefano Coletti destroyed one of the team's chassis in a crash at Spa. Coletti himself was unfit to drive the original chassis that was formerly driven by Nelson Panciatici. They also missed the final round at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve due to not finding "suitably qualified drivers".
Driver changes
Changed Team Karun Chandhok: iSport International → Ocean Racing Technology Lucas di Grassi: Campos Grand Prix → Fat Burner Racing Engineering Luca Filippi: Trust Team Arden → Super Nova Racing Romain Grosjean: ART Grand Prix → Barwa Addax Team Pastor Maldonado: Minardi Piquet Sports → ART Grand Prix Diego Nunes: David Price Racing → iSport International Álvaro Parente: Super Nova Racing → Ocean Racing Technology Roldán Rodríguez: Fisichella Motor Sport → Piquet GP Alberto Valerio: Durango → Piquet GP Davide Valsecchi: Durango → Barwa Addax Javier Villa : Racing Engineering → Super Nova Racing Andreas Zuber: Minardi Piquet Sports → Fisichella Motor Sport/PartyPokerRacing.com Scuderia Coloni
Entering/Re-Entering GP2 Johnny Cecotto Jr.: Formula 3 Euro Series (HBR Motorsport) → David Price Racing Dani Clos: Formula 3 Euro Series (Prema Powerteam) → Fat Burner Racing Engineering Stefano Coletti: Formula 3 Euro Series (Prema Powerteam) → Durango Giedo van der Garde: World Series by Renault (P1 Motorsport) → iSport International Rodolfo González: Formula 3 Euro Series (Carlin Motorsport) → Trident Racing Nico Hülkenberg: Formula 3 Euro Series (ART Grand Prix) → ART Grand Prix Edoardo Mortara: Formula 3 Euro Series (Signature-Plus) → Telmex Arden International Nelson Panciatici: Spanish Formula Three Championship (Hache International) → Durango Franck Perera: Superleague Formula (A.S. Roma) → David Price Racing Sergio Pérez: British Formula 3 Championship (T-Sport) → Telmex Arden International Luiz Razia: Euroseries 3000 (ELK Motorsport) → Fisichella Motor Sport/PartyPokerRacing.com Scuderia Coloni Davide Rigon: Superleague Formula (Beijing Guoan) → Trident Racing Ricardo Teixeira: British Formula 3 Championship (Ultimate Motorsport) → Trident Racing
Leaving GP2 Marko Asmer: Fisichella Motor Sport → Superleague Formula testing Christian Bakkerud: Super Nova Racing → Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (Futurecom-TME) Sébastien Buemi: Trust Team Arden → Formula One (Scuderia Toro Rosso) Mike Conway: Trident Racing → IndyCar Series (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) Romain Grosjean: Barwa Addax → Formula One (ING Renault F1 Team) Carlos Iaconelli: BCN Competición → FIA Formula Two Championship Giorgio Pantano: Racing Engineering → Eurocup Renault Mégane V6 Trophy & Superleague Formula (A.C. Milan) Miloš Pavlović: BCN Competición → FIA Formula Two Championship Bruno Senna: iSport International → Le Mans Series (Team Oreca Matmut AIM) Andy Soucek: Super Nova Racing → FIA Formula Two Championship Ho-Pin Tung: Trident Racing → A1 Grand Prix (A1 Team China) & Superleague Formula (Atlético Madrid) Adrián Vallés: BCN Competición → World Series by Renault (Epsilon Euskadi) & Superleague Formula (Liverpool F.C.)
Midseason changes Giacomo Ricci was replaced at DPR by Franck Perera after round four. Perera parted company with DPR prior to round nine to return to A.S. Roma in Superleague Formula. Perera was in turn replaced by Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto Jr. for the final two rounds. Davide Rigon missed round five due to sponsorship problems. Rodolfo González filled in for him at Trident Racing. Davide Valsecchi parted company with Durango ahead of round seven and switched to Barwa Addax to replace Formula One-bound Romain Grosjean. Stefano Coletti was the driver to replace Valsecchi at Durango.
2009 schedule The 2009 calendar was announced on 16 December 2008. The final round of the championship was the first GP2 race to take place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Also, the German Grand Prix was moved from Hockenheim to the Nürburgring.
Round Location Circuit Date Time Tyres Supporting Local UTC 1 Montmeló, Spain Circuit de Catalunya 9 May 16:00 14:00 Medium 2009 Spanish Grand Prix 10 May 10:30 08:30 2 F Monte Carlo, Monaco Circuit de Monaco 22 May 11:15 09:15 Super Soft 2009 Monaco Grand Prix S 23 May 16:00 14:00 3 F Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul Park 6 June 16:00 13:00 Medium 2009 Turkish Grand Prix S 7 June 11:30 08:30 4 F Silverstone, Great Britain Silverstone Circuit 20 June 15:00 14:00 Medium 2009 British Grand Prix S 21 June 09:30 08:30 5 F Nürburg, Germany Nürburgring 11 July 16:00 14:00 Soft 2009 German Grand Prix S 12 July 10:30 08:30 6 F Mogyoród, Hungary Hungaroring 25 July 16:00 14:00 Soft 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix S 26 July 10:30 08:30 7 F Valencia, Spain Valencia Street Circuit 22 August 16:00 14:00 Soft 2009 European Grand Prix S 23 August 10:30 08:30 8 F Stavelot, Belgium Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps 29 August 16:00 14:00 Soft 2009 Belgian Grand Prix S 30 August 10:30 08:30 9 F Monza, Italy Autodromo Nazionale Monza 12 September 16:00 14:00 Medium 2009 Italian Grand Prix S 13 September 10:30 08:30 10 F Portimão, Portugal Autódromo Internacional do Algarve 19 September 14:00 13:00 Soft 2009 FIA GT Algarve 2 Hours S 20 September 12:45 11:45Source:
Results Round Circuit Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report 1 Circuit de Catalunya Romain Grosjean Romain Grosjean Romain Grosjean Barwa Campos Team Report Edoardo Mortara Telmex Arden International 2 F Circuit de Monaco Romain Grosjean Romain Grosjean Romain Grosjean Barwa Addax Team Report S Vitaly Petrov Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 3 F Istanbul Park Nico Hülkenberg Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax Team Report S Lucas di Grassi Lucas di Grassi Fat Burner Racing Engineering 4 F Silverstone Circuit Romain Grosjean Nico Hülkenberg Alberto Valerio Piquet GP Report S Pastor Maldonado ART Grand Prix 5 F Nürburgring Nico Hülkenberg Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix Report S Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix 6 F Hungaroring Lucas di Grassi Nico Hülkenberg Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix Report S Luca Filippi Giedo van der Garde iSport International 7 F Valencia Street Circuit Nico Hülkenberg Nico Hülkenberg Vitaly Petrov Barwa Addax Team Report S Nico Hülkenberg Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix 8 F Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Álvaro Parente Álvaro Parente Álvaro Parente Ocean Racing Technology Report S Sergio Pérez Giedo van der Garde iSport International 9 F Autodromo Nazionale Monza Vitaly Petrov Edoardo Mortara Giedo van der Garde iSport International Report S Luiz Razia Party Poker Racing.com SC 10 F Autódromo Internacional do Algarve Vitaly Petrov Nico Hülkenberg ART Grand Prix Report S Luca Filippi Super Nova RacingSource:
Championship standings Scoring system Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers in the Feature race, and to the top 6 classified finishers in the Sprint race. The pole-sitter in the feature race will also receive two points, and one point is given to the driver who set the fastest lap inside the top ten in both the feature and sprint races. No extra points are awarded to the pole-sitter in the sprint race.
Feature race points Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Pole FL Points 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 1
Sprint race points Points are awarded to the top 6 classified finishers.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th FL Points 6 5 4 3 2 1 1
Drivers' Championship