2015 Auto GP Series

2015 Auto GP Series

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The 2015 Auto GP Series was the sixth year of Auto GP, and the sixteenth season of the former Euroseries 3000. The championship began on 2 May at the Hungaroring and was scheduled to finish after six double-header rounds at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, on 4 October. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

To guarantee a field of at least 18 cars each race, the Auto GP Organisation, led by Enzo Coloni, announced a cooperation deal with ISRA, the Dutch company led by Henk de Jong that organised the 2014 Formula Acceleration 1 season. However, the partnership between the Auto GP Organisation and ISRA was discontinued as Auto GP prepared for round one, due to ISRA's apparent lack of commitment. ^[4] It was also announced that the 2015 Auto GP champion will be given a Formula One test. ^{[2] [3] [5]} This attempt to extend the season did not succeed however. On 26 June, the day before the third meeting at Paul Ricard, the season was postponed because of a lack of grid numbers. ^[6]

In October 2015, the season was "archived" after four of the scheduled six events had been cancelled due to a lack of entries. ^[7] Antônio Pizzonia had been leading the drivers' championship by eleven points, after winning two of the first four races. Second place was held by Facu Regalia, who won the season-opening race at Silverstone, while the only other race-winner Luís Sá Silva, was lying third in the championship, another 15 points in arrears. With the victories of Pizzonia and Sá Silva, Zele Racing held the lead of the teams' championship with 132 points, 37 points ahead of the second-placed team, FMS Racing. However, due to the series cancellation, no championship titles were awarded.

Teams and drivers

Team	No.	Driver	Rounds
Virtuosi UK [8]	5	Johnny Cecotto Jr. [9]	1
	72	Nikita Zlobin [10]	All
Paolo Coloni Racing [11]	6	Christof von Grünigen [12]	All
	69	Loris Spinelli	2
Ibiza Racing Team [8]	7	Giuseppe Cipriani [13]	All
Zele Racing [8]	8	Antônio Pizzonia [12]	All
	9	Andrés Méndez [14]	All
	10	Luís Sá Silva [15]	All
FMS Racing [11]	16	Leonardo Pulcini [9]	1
	23	Facu Regalia [16]	All

Race calendar and results

The latest draft for the 2015 season was released on 22 December 2014. ^{[2] [3]} On 1 April 2015 it was announced that the Marrakech round had been cancelled. ^[1]

Round		Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Supporting
1	R1	Hungaroring	2 May	Antônio Pizzonia	Facu Regalia	Facu Regalia	FMS Racing	FIA WTCC Race of Hungary
	R2		3 May		Antônio Pizzonia	Antônio Pizzonia	Zele Racing
2	R3	Silverstone Circuit	23 May	Facu Regalia	Antônio Pizzonia	Antônio Pizzonia	Zele Racing	Blancpain Endurance Series
	R4		24 May		Facu Regalia	Luís Sá Silva	Zele Racing
–	–	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	27 June	Cancelled due to lack of entries [17]				FIA WTCC Race of France
	–		28 June
–	–	Circuit Park Zandvoort	11 July					Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
	–		12 July
–	–	Masaryk Circuit, Brno	5 September					European Touring Car Cup
	–		6 September
–	–	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya	3 October
	–		4 October

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

• Points were awarded as follows:

R	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	PP	FL
R1	25	18	15	12	10	8	6	4	2	1	2	1
R2	20	15	12	10	8	6	4	3	2	1	0	1

Pos Driver HUN SIL Pts 1 Antônio Pizzonia 2 1 1 3 79 2 Facu Regalia 1 6 2 2 68 3 Luís Sá Silva 6 4 3 1 53 4 Nikita Zlobin 7 5 4 7 30 5 Leonardo Pulcini 4 2 27 6 Christof von Grünigen 3 8 DNS 5 26 7 Giuseppe Cipriani Ret 7 5 4 24 8 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 5 3 22 9 Andrés Méndez 8 9 6 6 20 — Loris Spinelli WD WD 0 Pos Driver HUN SIL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Teams' championship

Pos	Team	HUN		SIL		Pts
1	Zele Racing	2	1	1	1	132
		6	4	3	3
2	FMS Racing	1	2	2	2	95
		4	6
3	Virtuosi UK	5	3	4	7	52
		7	5
4	Paolo Coloni Racing	3	8	DNS	5	26
				WD	WD
5	Ibiza Racing Team	Ret	7	5	4	24
Pos	Team	HUN		SIL		Pts

References

1. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (2 April 2015). "Auto GP's Marrakech opener cancelled". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
2. "Auto GP en FA1 bundelen hun krachten in nieuw kampioenschap" [Auto GP and FA1 join forces in new championship]. RaceXpress. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
3. "Auto GP set for Formula Acceleration merger in bid to boost grids". Autosport. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
4. "Auto GP to continue with own efforts after terminating ISRA partnership". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
5. "Auto GP 2015 drivers' champion to get prize Formula 1 test". Autosport. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
6. Hensby, Paul (26 June 2015). "Auto GP season postponed due to entry levels". The Checkered Flag. BlackEagleMedia. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
7. "Auto GP: Archived season 2015, the staff is working on a national series in 2016 at low cost". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
8. "2015 Auto GP presentation" (PDF). Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 7 November 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
9. "Cecotto jr. (Virtuosi UK), Pulcini (FMS Racing) join Auto GP at Budapest". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
10. Hensby, Paul (27 February 2015). "Virtuosi sign Nikita Zlobin for 2015 Auto GP season". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
11. "2015 TEAMS". Auto GP . Auto GP Organization. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
12. "Pizzonia (Zele Racing), Von Grünigen (Paolo Coloni Racing) join 2015 Auto GP ranks". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
13. "Giuseppe Cipriani back with Ibiza Racing Team for 2015 season". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
14. Hensby, Paul (12 February 2015). "Zele Racing confirm Colombian Mendez for 2015 Auto GP season". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
15. "Sa Silva completes Zele Racing line-up". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 24 April 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
16. "FMS Racing announces Regalia as a first driver for Budapest". Auto GP . Auto GP Organisation. 27 April 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
17. Elizalde, Pablo (25 June 2015). "Auto GP suspends 2015 season". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.

External links

• Official website