iSport International was a British motor racing team that competed in the GP2 Series. The team was founded by Paul Jackson, Gavin Bickerton-Jones and Richard Selwin, former members of the Petrobras Junior Team in 2004, ahead of the inaugural GP2 season. Their factory is based in Carleton Rode near Norwich in the United Kingdom.
iSport's most successful season in GP2 came in 2007, when they won the teams' title, with Timo Glock winning the drivers' championship. The team finished second in 2008, and won the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series drivers' and teams' championship. They pulled out of the GP2 series before the 2013 season, after encountering financial difficulties. iSport returned to motorsport in 2014, running a GP2 team for Russian Time.
Racing history GP2 Series The inaugural season of the GP2 series saw iSport take the fastest time in the shoot-out for race numbers, giving drivers Scott Speed and Can Artam numbers 1 and 2 for the season. While the team was regularly fast at races, neither driver was able to win a race. Nevertheless, Speed finished third in the championship with consistent points-scoring finishes, whilst Artam was 22nd overall with two points. iSport finished the season in fourth place in the teams' championship. For 2006, Speed graduated to Formula One with a drive at Scuderia Toro Rosso and Artam left the series. iSport filled its seats with Ernesto Viso and Tristan Gommendy, the latter of whom was later replaced by Timo Glock at the mid-season point. Viso took the team's first two victories in the category and Glock added two more; the part-season driver overhauling his teammate's points tally to finish the year fourth overall in the drivers' standings, with Viso sixth and Gommendy 20th. iSport improved to third in the teams' championship.
Glock remained with the team for 2007 and was joined by 2006 race winner Andreas Zuber. Glock won five races on his way to the championship title, prevailing in a season-long duel with Lucas di Grassi (ART Grand Prix). Zuber supported him with a single further victory on his way to ninth overall, although the teammates embarrassingly collided whilst accelerating away from the front row of the grid at the feature race of the round held at Magny-Cours. To cap a successful year, iSport also won its first teams' championship. For the 2008 season, iSport joined the GP2 Asia Series in its inaugural year, signing Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok. After a low-key Asia campaign, which saw the team finish fifth in the standings, the Senna-Chandhok combination was retained for the main series season, in which Senna emerged as champion Giorgio Pantano's main rival, accumulating two victories on his way to the runner-up position in the drivers' table. Chandhok also won a race and finished tenth overall; iSport ended the season second in the teams' championship to the Barwa International Campos Team.
For the 2008-09 Asia Series season, the departing driver line-up was replaced with reigning Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Giedo van der Garde and a series-encouraged Asian driver, Hamad Al Fardan. Van der Garde and Al Fardan scored 13 points between them, resulting in an eighth-place championship finish for the team. For the 2009 main series, Van der Garde was retained with Diego Nunes replacing Al Fardan; Van der Garde won three races but only managed seventh in the drivers' championship, whilst Nunes was back in 20th. iSport finished fifth overall in the teams' championship. Both drivers then moved on, and were replaced by Davide Valsecchi and Oliver Turvey for both the 2009-10 Asia Series and the 2010 main series. In the Asia Series, Valsecchi won three races and sealed the championship title, with rookie driver Turvey backing him up to take sixth overall, allowing iSport to win the Asia teams' championship for the first time. In the main series, however, the team was unable to maintain this level of form: Valsecchi ended the season strongly with the outfit's sole victory at Yas Marina, but was overshadowed by Turvey, who concluded the year sixth in the drivers' championship to Valsecchi's eighth. iSport maintained its fifth place in the teams' championship.
iSport again signed two new drivers—Sam Bird and Marcus Ericsson—for the abortive 2011 Asia Series and the 2011 main series. On this occasion, neither driver won a race: Bird finished sixth in the final standings with a single position, with Ericsson four places behind him but the team improving to fourth overall. Ericsson was retained for 2012, with Jolyon Palmer signed from the Arden team to replace the Formula Renault 3.5-bound Bird. The drivers' fortunes improved, as they took a race victory apiece, but iSport slipped to sixth in the teams' championship at season's end.
The iSport GP2 contract was acquired by Russian Time for the 2013 season.
Formula One The iSport team was believed to have been evaluating an entry to Formula One, but team principal Paul Jackson said that he was waiting for the FIA to finalise its plans to cap budgets in the sport before making any solid plans. "For many years I've said if the conditions were right and the numbers made sense, then we'd enter F1," said Jackson. "The budget cap could be the perfect opportunity for us, but until we find out what the magic number is, I don't know if it's do-able or feasible. When it's all in print, we'll look at it, start doing our sums and talking to potential investors." iSport's possible F1 entry was cancelled after they pulled out of GP2.
Results GP2 Series Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles Points 2005 Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome Scott Speed 23 0 1 5 57.5 3rd 4th Can Artam 23 0 0 0 2 22nd 2006 Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome Ernesto Viso 21 2 0 1 42 6th 3rd Tristan Gommendy 9 0 0 0 6 20th Timo Glock 12 2 0 1 58 4th 2007 Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome Timo Glock 21 5 4 4 92 1st 1st Andreas Zuber 21 1 1 2 30 9th 2008 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Karun Chandhok 20 1 0 0 31 10th 2nd Bruno Senna 20 2 3 1 64 2nd 2009 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Giedo van der Garde 20 3 0 0 34 7th 5th Diego Nunes 20 0 0 0 8 20th 2010 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Oliver Turvey 20 0 1 0 47 6th 5th Davide Valsecchi 20 1 1 0 31 8th 2011 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Sam Bird 18 0 1 0 45 6th 4th Marcus Ericsson 18 0 0 0 25 10th 2012 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Marcus Ericsson 24 1 0 0 124 8th 6th Jolyon Palmer 24 1 0 0 78 11th
In detail (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year ChassisEngineTyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Points 2005 GP2/05RenaultSMRFEASMRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEANÜRFEANÜRSPRMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPRSPAFEASPASPRBHRFEABHRSPR 4th 69.5 Scott Speed Can Artam 2006 GP2/05RenaultVALFEAVALSPRSMRFEASMRSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEASILFEASILSPRMAGFEAMAGSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 3rd 101 Ernesto Viso Tristan Gommendy Timo Glock 2007 GP2/05RenaultBHRFEABHRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPRSPAFEASPASPRVALFEAVALSPR 1st 118 Timo Glock Andreas Zuber 2008 GP2/08RenaultCATFEACATSPRISTFEAISTSPRMONFEAMONFEAMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRVALFEAVALSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 2nd 95 Karun Chandhok Bruno Senna 2009 GP2/08RenaultCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONFEAISTFEAISTSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRVALFEAVALSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPRALGFEAALGSPR 5th 42 Giedo van der Garde Diego Nunes 2010 GP2/08RenaultCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONSPRISTFEAISTSPRVALFEAVALSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPRYMCFEAYMCSPR 5th 78 Oliver Turvey Davide Valsecchi 2011 GP2/11MecachromeISTFEAISTSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONSPRVALFEAVALSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 4th 70 Sam Bird Marcus Ericsson 2012 GP2/11MecachromeSEPFEASEPSPRBHR1FEABHR1SPRBHR2FEABHR2SPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONSPRVALFEAVALSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPRMRNFEAMRNSPR 6th 202 Marcus Ericsson Jolyon Palmer
GP2 Final (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year ChassisEngineTyres Drivers 1 2 Points 2011 GP2/11MecachromeYMCFEAYMCSPR 1st 17 Tom Dillmann 6 3 Marcus Ericsson 4 2
GP2 Asia Series Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles Fast laps Points D.C. T.C. 2008 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Karun Chandhok 10 0 0 0 7 13th 5th Bruno Senna 10 0 0 3 23 5th 2008–09 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Giedo van der Garde 11 0 0 0 11 12th 8th Hamad Al Fardan 11 0 0 0 2 20th 2009–10 Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Oliver Turvey 8 1 0 0 17 6th 1st Davide Valsecchi 8 3 1 4 56 1st 2011 Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Marcus Ericsson 4 0 0 0 9 6th 5th Sam Bird 4 0 0 0 2 12th
In detail (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year ChassisEngineTyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points 2008 GP2/05RenaultDUB1FEADUB1SPRSENFEASENSPRSEPFEASEPSPRBHRFEABHRSPRDUB2FEADUB2SPR 5th 30 Karun Chandhok 7 3 Ret 13 Ret 7 8 Ret Ret Ret Bruno Senna 2 19 7 2 Ret 8 4 DNS DSQ 11 2008–09 GP2/05RenaultSHIFEASHISPRDUB3FEADUB3SPRBHR1FEABHR1SPRLSLFEALSLSPRSEPFEASEPSPRBHR2FEABHR2SPR 8th 13 Giedo van der Garde 10 DNS 4 C 7 14 12 8 14 10 5 7 Hamad Al Fardan 15 Ret Ret C 12 Ret Ret Ret 9 5 Ret 17 2009–10 GP2/05RenaultYMC1FEAYMC1SPRYMC2FEAYMC2SPRBHR1FEABHR1SPRBHR2FEABHR2SPR 1st 73 Oliver Turvey 8 4 1 5 9 6 9 11 Davide Valsecchi 1 2 2 1 1 20 2 4 2011 GP2/11MecachromeYMCFEAYMCSPRIMOFEAIMOSPR 5th 11 Marcus Ericsson 4 3 10 16 Sam Bird 7 Ret Ret Ret
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