The 2010 Superleague Formula season was the third Superleague Formula championship. The series was rebranded "Superleague Formula by Sonangol", due to a two-year deal that began in the previous season.[1] The first race of the season was on 4 April at Silverstone and it finished on 24 October at Navarra after a series record of 12 race weekends in all.
Race action at Brooklands corner, Silverstone at Superleague Formula Round 1PSV Eindhoven (Narain Karthikeyan) car retrieved mid-race after spinning into the gravel at Superleague Formula Round 1
The series' prize fund was increased to €5 million, with the championship-winning team winning €1 million.[2] Superleague Formula teamed up with The NewsMarket to distribute video content to 25,000 global media outlets in over 190 countries throughout the season.[3] Ex-Formula One and WTCC driver Tiago Monteiro praised Superleague Formula by saying he was "pretty impressed with what they've done so far".[4]
R.S.C. Anderlecht, run under Azerti Motorsport with driver Davide Rigon, were made champions, but only after the last Super Final of the last event of the season. It was R.S.C. Anderlecht's first series title but the second for Rigon, who won the title with Beijing Guoan in 2008.
María de Villota replaced John Martin at Atlético Madrid prior to round 2 at the TT Circuit Assen. Martin joined 2008 champions Beijing Guoan, who came into the season partly due to calls from promoters in China who wanted to see their return.[54]Franck Perera replaced Duncan Tappy at CR Flamengo.
Round 7 at Brands Hatch saw the return of club Olympique Lyonnais with new driver Franck Perera and Laurent Rédon's team rebranded as Laurent Rédon Motorsport over the previous incarnation as LRS Formula. Franck Montagny also returned to the GD Bordeaux car.[51] Alpha Team was renamed Alpha Motorsport and fully merged with ADR.
Ben Hanley replaced the injured Chris van der Drift for Olympiacos at Adria. Olympique Lyonnais ran their third driver of the season, Celso Míguez, now managed by the Drivex team. Sporting CP and GD Bordeaux cited "technical problems" for not competing, leaving a record-low 16 clubs to race.[28] Maxime Jousse almost had to stand-in for brother Julien at A.S. Roma following a biking accident.[58]Frédéric Vervisch replaced James Walker at Liverpool F.C.[9] and Hywel Lloyd replaced Narain Karthikeyan at PSV Eindhoven.[16]
At Portimão, Olympique Lyonnais ran their fourth driver of the season, Tristan Gommendy and have new management at the Atech/Reid partnership. Máximo Cortés raced for Sporting CP and Celso Míguez moved to GD Bordeaux as Drivex switched to manage these two cars. Andy Soucek returned with Galatasaray S.K. who switched to GU-Racing. Neel Jani stepped into the Olympiacos machine, as Ben Hanley was contesting the Karting World Championship. The field was back to featuring eighteen cars again.[23]
Former champion Adrián Vallés returned to the series at Ordos, with Sporting CP, now run by Emilio de Villota's squad.[29] Andy Soucek moved to Flamengo and Franck Perera raced in the now Azerti Motorsport-run Bordeaux car.[41][46]Giacomo Ricci, Bruno Méndez and Adderly Fong all made debuts; in Soucek's vacated Galatasaray seat, for Atlético Madrid and PSV Eindhoven respectively.[17][35][42] Ben Hanley returned to Olympiacos after Neel Jani drove for them in Portimão.[59] Also making an appearance at Ordos was a Team China car with Qinghua Ma at the wheel.[24] Visa issues ruled out Álvaro Parente from Ordos, with Earl Bamber stepping into Parente's seat at F.C. Porto.[22]
Álvaro Parente returned to the F.C. Porto seat for Beijing, leaving Earl Bamber to move to PSV Eindhoven, replacing Adderly Fong.[18] Fong did however compete in qualifying and the first race having replaced Qinghua Ma at Team China following the practice sessions.[25]Paul Meijer returned to the series, replacing the injured Bruno Méndez at Atlético Madrid.[18]
For the season finale at Navarra, Esteban Guerrieri returned with PSV Eindhoven, becoming their fifth driver of the year. María de Villota rejoined Atlético Madrid and Máximo Cortés stepped into A.S. Roma's car.[19][60] Chris van der Drift made an early return with Galatasaray S.K. (operated by the returning Drivex team) following his accident at Brands Hatch.[26]
A provisional calendar for the season was leaked on 21 October 2009.[61][62] Alex Andreu, Superleague Formula founder, stated after the 2009 season finale that "we are already looking forward to our third season next year and expanding our calendar to 12 rounds".[63] In December, the FIA published a 2010 calendar, confirming 6 events,[64] with a 12-race calendar released on 12 January 2010 and Adria, Istanbul and Spa all missing.[65] Adria returned to the calendar at the series' media day at Assen on 22 March, replacing Monza. Other changes saw Oschersleben, Estoril and Jerez dropped in place of the new Circuito de Navarra and the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão.[32] In July 2010, the series' first non-European events were announced— two race meetings in China, with the first being at the newly built Ordos International Circuit[66] and the second around Beijing's new street circuit.[67] The Beijing meeting was a non-championship event, after the track failed to gain the required FIA Grade 2 status in order to host a championship event.[68]
The races had four different commentators on the SF World Feed: Ben Edwards spoke at six rounds, Martin Haven commentated at Silverstone and the Chinese races, Jonathan Green was at Jarama and John Hindhaugh did the Adria and Portimão rounds. Abi Griffiths became the new pitlane reporter, replacing Ben Constadanduros and Warren Pole. Co-commentators were Bruce Jouanny (rounds 1–6, 9, 11), Earl Bamber (rounds 7–8), María de Villota (round 8), Ho-Pin Tung (round 10) and Andy Soucek (Beijing round).[69]
† Race 3 was cancelled due to poor track and weather conditions.[70]
Race 2 starts with reverse grid from finishing order of Race 1.
All events included a Race 3 (to find the 'Weekend Winner') as in 2009.
Test calendar and results
There was a test session prior to round 1 of the season, on 1 April at Silverstone Circuit. Julien Jousse was the fastest driver, for club A.S. Roma, during a rain-soaked test session.[71]
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NOTE – R2 starts
with reverse grid S = Super Final
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† Round at Beijing was a non-championship event with no points given out for any of the races.
*María de Villota finished 12th in race one and retired in 17th from race two at Jarama. She was subsequently disqualified from race two, after the race had finished, for crashing into Sébastien Bourdais early on after spinning off the track herself. She was also excluded from the race one result and lost the 14 points she would have earned for that finish.[72]
‡Chris van der Drift qualified for the Super Final at Brands Hatch but was unable to compete due to suffering injuries from a large crash in race two which led to him being taken to hospital with a broken ankle, two broken ribs, a cracked shoulder blade, a dislocated shoulder and two broken fingers.[73][74] His Super Final place was taken up by the seventh highest points-scorer of the weekend, Yelmer Buurman.
Race 1 and 2 points
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Super Final points
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New for 2010 was the rule that a driver had to finish a race in order to earn points, instead of just having to start. Another change this season saw, unlike in 2009, the Super Final count for points. The winner gained 6 points, runner-up 5 points, down to 6th place who gained 1 point, they had to qualify for the race by being one of the top six overall weekend's point scorers but unlike in the two main races they did not have to finish the five laps in order to collect points.[75]
Freeman, Glenn, ed. (2010-04-08). "Superleague teams merge". Autosport. 200 (2). Haymarket Publications: 21. Superleague Formula squads ATECH and Reid Motorsport have joined forces in 2010 to field the Liverpool, AC Milan, Porto and Sporting Lisbon clubs. Alan Docking Racing took over the Atlético Madrid and Flamengo cars in a last-minute deal under the 'Alpha' banner, after Durango bailed out last week.
"Remue-ménage en Superleague". autohebdo.fr (in French). Groupe Hommell. 2010-09-04. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
"G.Saray günlüğü: Takvim netleşti". fotomac.com.tr (in Turkish). Turkuvaz Gazete Dergı Basim. 2010-01-15. Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
"Robert Doornbos returns to Superleague Formula after IndyCar plans fail". F1SA. Formula One Supporters Association. 2010-03-22. Archived from the original on 2010-03-27. Retrieved 2010-03-22. The Dutch presence in Superleague Formula will be significant in 2010 as the series sees Robert Doornbos to represent Corinthians, PSV sign Narain Karthikeyan and Chris van der Drift joins Olympiacos.
Bradley, Charles (2010-10-14). "Bamber bags the Beijing bounty". Autosport. 202 (2). Haymarket Publications: 53. In a twist of irony, Soucek, whose Flamengo machine was totalled, took over the TV commentary duties that Bamber was supposed to be doing!
Bradley, Charles (2010-10-10). "Porto's Parente wins crazy race two". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-10. The super final that was due to follow has been cancelled due to the abject lack of visibility. Bamber cheered up when he was pronounced the winner of the weekend and would receive the €100,000 top prize, ahead of Craig Dolby (Tottenham) and Frederic Vervisch (Liverpool).
Silverstone
FC Basel 1893
F.C. Porto
Tottenham Hotspur
Olympique Lyonnais
Assen
R.S.C. Anderlecht
A.C. Milan
Olympiacos CFP
GU-Racing International
Jarama
Beijing Guoan
CR Flamengo
Galatasaray S.K.
