Arguably GT Academy’s most talented find so far, Jann Mardenborough has made another move towards the pinnacle of motorsport by grabbing a drive in the GP2 Series at Monza this weekend.
Jann’s hopped into the #4 Carlin car to fill in for Indonesian driver Sean Gelael who has commitments in the World Series by Renault at Silverstone this weekend – while Jann’s normal GP3 seat will be left vacant for the day.
Of course Jann has tested and raced in some pretty mean machinery already, with seat time in Super Formula, WSR and several hours of LMP1 action, but the move is still a significant test. GP2 is considered a stepping stone into Formula 1, with nearly 20% of all past GP2 drivers making the move upwards, from double world-champion Lewis Hamilton to Pastor Maldonado. The cars employ a similar drag reduction system (DRS) to Formula 1 and, like F1, there’s a mandatory pit stop for a tyre change.
After his first ever qualifying session in GP2 cars, Jann placed 17th overall – just 0.2s behind his team-mate Julián Leal – but will start the first race 15th after penalties for two drivers ahead of him. Race 1 starts at 13.40 GMT on Saturday 5th September, with Race 2 at 08.35 GMT on Sunday 6th September – and you can keep up with Jann’s progress with the GP2Series.com live timing feed.
There’s other NISMO athletes in action this weekend too. Sir Chris Hoy and Gaetan Paletou – along with their team-mates Charlie Robertson and Michael Simpson – will be taking their LMP3 Ginetta-Nissans to Paul Ricard for the 4hr du Castellet in the European Le Mans Series. Qualifying for that gets underway at 07.30 GMT on Sunday 6th September, with the race following at 11.00 GMT. Live timing is also available for this event.
See more articles on European Le Mans Series, Gaetan Paletou, and Jann Mardenborough.
He didn’t go very well, last place in Race1 with 2 laps gap from the first, last place Race2 with only 3 laps done.
Not sure if anything mechanical happened, but I looked through the results and noticed that in both races Jann was dead last in top speed, 3.5km/h slower than the highest top speed, which, in both races, belonged to the eventual race winner.
He’s growing up in front off our very eyes. :)
God bless you Jann. Be safe and do your best bro’.
I’m proud about him too, in case nobody note what happend last SPA Francorchamps Grand Prix, I did not read any news here, Jan had a pretty ungly accident (without any consequenses) getting out on Eau Rouge hitting tire walls, he was doing very well until that. I was viewing his race live on TV. I wish you best of luck Jan for this weekend.
Really proud of Jann and I’d love to see him get a seat in F1 in a few years time.
He’s to good for F1