Ireland’s World Cup of Motorsport-winning race team Status Grand Prix is to compete at Formula One™ Grand Prix events in 2010 as it branches out into the new GP3 Series championship.
Status GP, which ran the A1 Team Ireland entry to victory in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport this year, has been selected as one of the 10 elite teams to compete in the GP3 Series. The pan-European championship, which has been established to identify Formula One™ stars of the future, will be run in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators at seven Formula One™ Grand Prix, including the long-standing British, German and Italian events.
Renowned Formula One™ designer and technical director Gary Anderson has finalised an agreement to be the team’s Technical Consultant overseeing development of the new 280bhp turbocharged single-seater race cars. Status GP’s race team will be led by highly regarded team manager Simon Cayzer, who has Formula One™ experience with Jordan Grand Prix before joining Status in 2007.
Anderson, whose association with Status GP goes back three years, said: “GP3 is a new challenge for everyone, with a new car and new tyres. A team of Status GP’s calibre, with its A1GP success, will be very competitive. I look forward to an interesting season.”
The three Irish shareholders of Status GP, David Kennedy, Mark Gallagher and John Hynes, along with the principal shareholder Teddy Yip of Canada, are delighted to be challenging for another championship title after securing A1GP honours with top Irish driver Adam Carroll.
Kennedy said: “The GP3 Series is a fantastic way for Status GP to expand its activities, and we firmly believe this category will quickly establish itself as an essential stepping-stone to F1. Status has all the attributes to bring its drivers success in GP3 and assist them to the top of the sport.”
GP3 has been founded to complement the established GP2 Series, already a key feeder series to Formula One™. All GP3 teams will run three cars, which are new Dallara chassis powered by identical Renault turbo engines. The eight-event season commences at Formula One’s™ first European event of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix in May, while the finale will be the sole non-Formula One™ event, with GP3 running alongside GP2 at Portimao, Portugal in September.
Status Grand Prix continues to assess leading junior single-seater drivers to spearhead its championship assault, and announcements on its line-up and other exciting developments for the team will be released in the coming weeks.