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. 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.
The series' prize fund was increased to €5 million, with the championship-winning team winning €1 million. Superleague Formula teamed up with The NewsMarket to distribute video content to 25,000 global media outlets in over 190 countries throughout the season. Ex-Formula One and WTCC driver Tiago Monteiro praised Superleague Formula by saying he was "pretty impressed with what they've done so far".
R.S.C. Anderlecht, run under Azerti Motorsport with driver Davide Rigon, won the championship, 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.
Teams and drivers All teams competed on Michelin tyres.
EntrantRace teamNo.Race driver(s)Rounds Liverpool F.C. Atech GP/Reid Motorsport 1 James Walker 1–7 Frédéric Vervisch 8–11 * Sporting CP Atech GP/Reid Motorsport 2 Borja García 1–5 Andy Soucek 6–7 Drivex Máximo Cortés9 EmiliodeVillota Motorsport Adrián Vallés10–11 * A.C. Milan Atech GP/Reid Motorsport 3 Yelmer Buurman All * Galatasaray S.K. Barazi-Epsilon4 Tristan Gommendy1–8 GU-Racing International Andy Soucek9 Giacomo Ricci10 * Drivex Chris van der Drift11 PSV Eindhoven Racing for Holland5 Narain Karthikeyan1–2, 4–5 Atech GP/Reid Motorsport 6–7 Hywel Lloyd 8–9 Adderly Fong 10 Earl Bamber * Esteban Guerrieri 11 CR Flamengo Alpha Team 7 Duncan Tappy 1, 6–9 Franck Perera 2–5 Andy Soucek 10–11 * R.S.C. Anderlecht Azerti Motorsport 8 Davide Rigon All * Olympiacos CFP GU-Racing International9 Chris van der Drift 1–7 Ben Hanley 8, 10–11 * Neel Jani 9 FC Basel 1893 GU-Racing International10 Max Wissel All * SC Corinthians Azerti Motorsport14 Robert DoornbosAll * Atlético Madrid Alpha Team15 John Martin1 María de Villota2–9, 11 Bruno Méndez10 Paul Meijer* F.C. Porto Atech GP/Reid Motorsport16 Álvaro Parente 1–9, 11 * Earl Bamber 10 Sevilla FC EmiliodeVillota Motorsport18 Marcos Martínez All * Tottenham Hotspur Alan Docking Racing 19 Craig Dolby All * A.S. Roma EmiliodeVillota Motorsport22 Julien Jousse 1–10 * Máximo Cortés 11 Beijing Guoan Alan Docking Racing24 John Martin 2–11 * GD Bordeaux Barazi-Epsilon 33 Franck Montagny 1–5, 7 Jaap van Lagen 6 Drivex Celso Míguez 9 Azerti Motorsport Franck Perera 10–11 * Olympique Lyonnais Laurent Rédon Motorsport 69 Sébastien Bourdais 1–5 Franck Perera 7 Drivex Celso Míguez 8 Atech GP/Reid Motorsport Tristan Gommendy 9–11 * Team China Atech GP/Reid Motorsport 88 Qinghua Ma 10 Adderly Fong *Source:
* Drivers who participated in the non-championship round at the Beijing street circuit.
Cars 7 and 15 were going to be run by Durango but they pulled out and were replaced by Alpha Team prior to round 1. Al Ain, FC Midtjylland and Rangers F.C. did not compete this year having been left off the provisional entry list. GD Bordeaux made their debut in 2010. Beijing Guoan did not enter until prior to round 2. An FC Groningen car, to be driven by ex-F1 racer Jos Verstappen, was due to participate at the TT Circuit Assen round but the plan was abandoned five weeks before the event. Frenchman Bruce Jouanny remained the series' official test driver.
Driver changes Changed teams Sébastien Bourdais: Sevilla FC → Olympique Lyonnais Yelmer Buurman: R.S.C. Anderlecht → A.C. Milan Tristan Gommendy: F.C. Porto → Galatasaray S.K. & Olympique Lyonnais Esteban Guerrieri: Olympiacos CFP → PSV Eindhoven John Martin: Rangers F.C. → Beijing Guoan via Atlético Madrid Franck Perera: A.S. Roma → CR Flamengo, Olympique Lyonnais & GD Bordeaux Duncan Tappy: Galatasaray S.K. → CR Flamengo Adrián Vallés: Liverpool F.C. → Sporting CP
Entering/Re-Entering Superleague Formula Earl Bamber: Toyota Racing Series (Triple X Motorsport) → F.C. Porto & PSV Eindhoven Máximo Cortés: Le Mans Series (Q8 Oils Hache Team) → Sporting CP & A.S. Roma Robert Doornbos: IndyCar Series (HVM Racing) → SC Corinthians Chris van der Drift: Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Epsilon Euskadi) → Olympiacos CFP & Galatasaray S.K. Adderly Fong: British Formula 3 Championship (Sino Vision Racing) → PSV Eindhoven & Team China Borja García: Atlantic Championship (Condor Motorsports) → Sporting CP Ben Hanley: CIK-FIA European KZ1 Championship (Maranello) → Olympiacos CFP Neel Jani: Le Mans Series (Rebellion Racing) → Olympiacos CFP Narain Karthikeyan: Le Mans Series (Kolles) → PSV Eindhoven Jaap van Lagen: Porsche Supercup (Bleekemolen Harders Plaza) → GD Bordeaux Hywel Lloyd: British Formula 3 Championship (CF Racing) → PSV Eindhoven Qinghua Ma: British Formula 3 Championship (Team West-Tec) → Team China Marcos Martínez: Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Pons Racing) → Sevilla FC Paul Meijer: GT4 European Cup (Rhesus Racing) → Atlético Madrid Bruno Méndez: Formula Renault 3.5 Series (FHV Interwetten.com) → Atlético Madrid Celso Míguez: Auto GP (RP Motorsport) → Olympique Lyonnais & GD Bordeaux Franck Montagny: American Le Mans Series (Team Peugeot Total) → GD Bordeaux Álvaro Parente: GP2 Series (Ocean Racing Technology) → F.C. Porto Giacomo Ricci: GP2 Series (David Price Racing) → Galatasaray S.K. Davide Rigon: GP2 Series (Trident Racing) → R.S.C. Anderlecht Andy Soucek: FIA Formula Two Championship (MotorSport Vision) → Sporting CP, Galatasaray S.K. & CR Flamengo Frédéric Vervisch: Italian Formula Three Championship (RC Motorsport) → Liverpool F.C. James Walker: Formula Renault 3.5 Series (P1 Motorsport) → Liverpool F.C.
Leaving Superleague Formula Kasper Andersen: FC Midtjylland → Rolex Sports Car Series (Starworks Motorsport) Enrique Bernoldi: CR Flamengo → FIA GT1 World Championship (Vitaphone Racing Team) Carlo van Dam: PSV Eindhoven → Le Mans Series (Atlas FX-Team Full Speed) Jonathan Kennard: CR Flamengo → Le Mans Series (KSM) Nelson Panciatici: Olympique Lyonnais → Formula Renault 3.5 Series (Lotus Racing Junior Team) Giorgio Pantano: A.C. Milan → Auto GP (Super Nova Racing) Pedro Petiz: Sporting CP → sabbatical Antônio Pizzonia: SC Corinthians → Stock Car Brasil (Hot Car Competições) Ho-Pin Tung: Galatasaray S.K. → GP2 Series (DAMS)
Mid-season changes 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. Franck Perera replaced Duncan Tappy at CR Flamengo. PSV Eindhoven, with driver Narain Karthikeyan, did not compete at round 3 due his involvement in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the same weekend. Olympique Lyonnais skipped the Zolder round after parting company with driver Sébastien Bourdais. Also for Zolder, Andy Soucek replaced Borja García in the Sporting CP car, and Jaap van Lagen replaced Franck Montagny at GD Bordeaux. Reid Motorsport took over the running of the PSV Eindhoven car from Racing for Holland. 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. 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. Maxime Jousse almost had to stand-in for brother Julien at A.S. Roma following a biking accident. Frédéric Vervisch replaced James Walker at Liverpool F.C. and Hywel Lloyd replaced Narain Karthikeyan at PSV Eindhoven. 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. Former champion Adrián Vallés returned to the series at Ordos, with Sporting CP, now run by Emilio de Villota's squad. Andy Soucek moved to Flamengo and Franck Perera raced in the now Azerti Motorsport-run Bordeaux car. Giacomo Ricci, Bruno Méndez and Adderly Fong all made debuts; in Soucek's vacated Galatasaray seat, for Atlético Madrid and PSV Eindhoven respectively. Ben Hanley returned to Olympiacos after Neel Jani drove for them in Portimão. Also making an appearance at Ordos was a Team China car with Qinghua Ma at the wheel. Visa issues ruled out Álvaro Parente from Ordos, with Earl Bamber stepping into Parente's seat at F.C. Porto. Álvaro Parente returned to the F.C. Porto seat for Beijing, leaving Earl Bamber to move to PSV Eindhoven, replacing Adderly Fong. Fong did however compete in qualifying and the first race having replaced Qinghua Ma at Team China following the practice sessions. Paul Meijer returned to the series, replacing the injured Bruno Méndez at Atlético Madrid. 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. Chris van der Drift made an early return with Galatasaray S.K. (operated by the returning Drivex team) following his accident at Brands Hatch.
2010 schedule A provisional calendar for the season was leaked on 21 October 2009. 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". In December, the FIA published a 2010 calendar, confirming 6 events, with a 12-race calendar released on 12 January 2010 and Adria, Istanbul and Spa all missing. 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. 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 and the second around Beijing's new street circuit. 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. 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).
Race calendar and results