Continue reading Video: Formula 2's Ricardo Teixeira goes airborne in Morocco

Video: Formula 2's Ricardo Teixeira goes airborne in Morocco originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 03 May 2010 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Formula Me, Too: racing scions sign for new series

Formula Me, Too: racing scions sign for new series originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After seeing our favorite IRL driver in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition win her first race, we were convinced that what motor racing needs is more female drivers. With the glass ceiling showing more and more cracks, we're encouraged by the news that Swiss rising star Natacha Gachnang will be among the drivers competing in the inaugural season of the new Formula 2 championship.

Racing fans who watch the junior leagues like football fans watch college games will know the 21-year-old Gachnang from her promising career so far. This year she finished a solid third place in the Spanish Formula 3 championship and second in the Copa de España. Before that she was on our side of the Atlantic, racing in the Star Mazda series where she finished in the top ten in each race. At the same time she was driving in the F3 Euro Series and in Austrian Formula 3, where she finished a solid fourth.

Other drivers already signed on for the new FIA series, which is being run by Jonathan Palmer with Audi-powered Williams chassis, include Armaan Ebrahim, Tobias Hegewald, Julien Jousse, Jason Moore and Robert Wickens. Natacha, however, cousin to Toro Rosso hopeful Sebastien Buemi, is up to the challenge, with the ultimate goal of reaching Formula One. We'll be watching, and you can start by checking out some of Natacha's glamor shots and images from her short but successful racing career in the gallery below.

Gallery: Natacha Gachnang

Va-va-vroom! Formula 2 series gets its own Danica originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another day, another formula racing series. The organizers of the GP2 Series are working on a GP3, and the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport is planning to launch A2GP, but when the FIA announced plans to resuscitate the dormant Formula 2 championship a couple of months ago, many scoffed. However plans are apparently under way as the organization and promotion of the series have been awarded to Jonathan Palmer.

One of the last champions of the previous Formula 2 championship before moving up to F1, Palmer is an established race promoter in the UK. Palmer's MotorSport Vision empire includes the Formula Palmer Audi series and the British Superbike Championship as well as ownership of the Brands Hatch, Snetterton, Cadwell park, Oulton Park and Bedford Autodrome circuits in the UK, making him a sort of junior Ecclestone. Now entrusted with organizing the new F2, Palmer has revealed that each of the participating teams will use a standardized car that will be maintained by the Palmer crew at Bedford.

While the actual fabricators for the composite chassis have yet to be announced, Williams will reportedly design the car and Audi will supply the 400-500hp engines. Since the series will compete directly with Bernie Ecclestone's GP2 Series, don't expect to see Formula 2 races running in support of F1 grands prix, however F2 may join the ticket alongside the FIA World Touring Car Championship, the Le Mans Series or DTM as well as stand-alone events in the near future.

[Source: GrandPrix.com | image: Formula Palmer Audi]

New Formula 2 to run spec Williams-Audi racers originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While Formula One has been a relative constant for the past several decades, the various feeder series running up the ladder to the pinnacle of international motorsport seems to always be in flux. The FIA recently announced plans to revive the old Formula 2 series with a new low-cost format to compete with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone's contemporary GP2 championship, but Bernie isn't about to let himself be dominated by Max Mosley without putting up a good fight.

To that end, Ecclestone is now reported to be working on launching a new GP3 series. The new feeder series would sit one step below GP2, which itself has supplied a crop of new talent - including Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Timo Glock - to the F1 grid every year since its inception in 2005. GP3 would compete directly with the fractioned Formula 3 - under which separate series operate around the world without a single united championship - and swallow the International Formula Master's series established last year. While Mosley's discredited vision of a low-cost Formula 2 would cap annual budgets at 200,000 euros per car (compared to the 800,000 euro cost of the F3 Euroseries), GP3 could keep things down to the more realistic 450,000 euro budget required in the aforementioned IFM.

Bottom line: there's a war of racing series going on between Mosley and Ecclestone, and racing fans could stand to benefit from the competition.

[Source: F1-Live]

Ecclestone moves to establish new GP3 series originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The international motor racing community was shocked when the FIA announced it is accepting tenders to revive the long-departed Formula 2 series. Trouble is, Formula 2 isn't dead... it's just changed names over the years. In 1985 it was relabeled Formula 3000 before being taken over by F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone and Renault team principal Flavio Briatore, who turned it into the current GP2 series in 2005.

The FIA's plan calls for an additional feeder-series to be formed to run in competition to the aforementioned GP2 and other junior formulae like A1GP and F3. However the revived F2 series, as envisioned by the FIA proposal, calls for a much lower operating cost of €200,000 per car, per season - far lower than GP2 (which costs approximately €1.5m per season) or even the lower-rung Formula BMW, which demands nearly €300k to race. Insiders view this as a clear provocation from the FIA against Ecclestone. We'll just have to see how it all plays out.

[Source: autosport.com]

FIA announces plan to bring back Formula 2 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.