The 21-year-old from Cambridgeshire, who will start this year’s F3 Euro Series among the title favourites following a strong rookie season, has been announced as one of the members of Gravity Sport Management’s racing academy for 2010.

Gravity is part of Genii Capital, the private investment firm that recently bought into Renault following the car manufacturer’s decision to scale back its F1 involvement.

At the time Genii said it would be looking for ways in which its various holdings could work together, highlighting the potential for the drivers managed by Gravity to benefit from the experience built up by the Renault Driver Development Programme.

Gravity operates by using funds from private investors to support and promote young drivers in the hope that some will go on to earn the lucrative pay cheques and commercial opportunities that success in Formula One can bring. Its race academy designs an individually-tailored programme for each participant covering driving technique, physical fitness, media relations and the economics of motor sport.

According to Sims: “Generally, they want to support young drivers who can’t get any further on their own funding and have a realistic chance of making F1. To put it in basic terms, their aim – and my aim – is solely to get to Formula One, because if I don’t reach F1 they’re not going to make too much money out of me.”

Immediate beneficiaries of the deal with Renault were Ho-Pin Tung and Jerome D’Ambrosio, named as the team’s reserve drivers and also placed with the DAMS GP2 squad. DAMS enjoys close links to F1 team boss and ex-Gravity CEO Eric Boullier and has now been rebranded the Renault F1 Junior Team.

Now Sims has placed himself near the front of the queue to follow in their footsteps by using Gravity’s support to make possible a move to F3 Euro Series constructors champions ART Grand Prix.

He takes over there from Jules Bianchi, who has been promoted to GP2 by ART after winning the drivers’ title and has also signed an F1 development deal with Ferrari.

But, according to Sims, his golden opportunity might have slipped away had he not attracted attention from Gravity and other investors towards the end of his rookie year in F3 Euro Series, which saw him win a race and finish fourth in the title chase.

He told Brits on Pole the personal finances which had supported him to that point in his career had been on the verge of running out: “A second year in F3 was possibly a bit too much to ask. Thankfully, we had a fantastic year last year – people were interested in investing in my career and Gravity seemed the best option.

“I’m very, very happy to be with Gravity for a long term deal. Basically, they’ll be paying the bills from now which is a massive relief.”

He said he had begun discussions with them in October, long before the deal to buy into Renault came along: “The situation was that there were a few offers on the table towards the end of last year.

“I feel very privileged to have been in that situation, to try to work out where is best for the money to come from. It’s a very difficult situation at the moment for a driver – if we didn’t have management companies working with us at the end of last year I think we would have struggled.”

Sims said he was already being invited to take part in training seminars run by the academy, and had been promised concrete support in areas such as the cost of personal training, developing his media skills, and handling logistics such as organising flights to races.

And Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson has told the Australian media that he is not ruling out asking London’s Metropolitan Police and the international law enforcement organisation Interpol to help his inquiry.

The police involvement comes after the regional government launched two high-level investigations into how public money had been spent in last October’s affair, which saw organisers pull the plug on A1GP with 48 hours to go after the series failed to fly its cars and equipment out to Queensland.

One, carried out by Auditor-General Glenn Poole, criticised inappropriate time scales, the due diligence process and its documentation as well as the lack of government oversight. He has asked the police to investigate how some aspects of the contract negotiations were handled.

The other report, carried out by former government director-general and business analyst David Williams, a member the event’s organising board from 1989 to 1996, analysed the governance and due diligence undertaken by the 2009 event organisers and made recommendations for the future.

It highlighted issues with the record-keeping of promoters International Management Group (IMG), an absence of termination clauses in the contract and the willingness of the event’s management company GCMEC to invest public money in an organisation with very few assets or resources. It also pointed to the lack of a contingency plan.

Additionally, it uncovered a report prepared by the New South Wales regional government which concluded that its three years of hosting A1GP races had seen declining attendance numbers, poor television ratings and few visitors from outside the area. For these reasons the contract was not renewed.

Despite this, tourism and international exposure were highlighted as prime reasons why Queensland should invest public money in A1GP in 2009.

In the aftermath of the report IMG, previously a partner of the government in GCMEC, is no longer involved in the Gold Coast motorsport festival following what is termed a “commercial settlement”.

The event, which went ahead without A1GP last year, will no longer include an international open-wheel category and will now focus on V8 supercars, held over three days instead of four and on a shortened circuit.

The release of the reports is not the only development in the A1GP saga over the past few days:

• London’s High Court has finally ruled on the fate of the A1 Grand Prix Operations Ltd assets, including its cars. After the company went into liquidation Teixera argued that they were actually assets of its holding company. In reality they were in the hands of Delivered on Time, a freight company owed considerable sums for transporting them around the world. Now a judge has decided the administrators are the people with the strongest claim and they will thus be sold to raise funds for creditors. It has been suggested Teixeira himself may bid for the 25 Ferrari-powered cars in order to use them to relaunch the series.
• The original Team USA franchise holder, which raced in the series between 2005 and 2008 before Andretti Autosport took the team over, has been awarded a judgment worth $4.5 million plus costs and interest against A1 Holdings Ltd and Tony Teixeira in a Virginia court. In dispute were the way the franchise agreement had been terminated plus a sum of $1.2 million in prize money that remained unpaid. These issues were resolved through a $4.5 million settlement but the franchise-holders took the matter to court when payments on this sum were not met. They have said they will now “aggressively” seek payment.
• The series has pretty much acknowledged that the 2009/10 season is not going ahead with a statement from spokeswoman Ann Bradshaw to the Press Association. She said: “We’re not currently in a position to race in the near future, but this won’t be the death of the series, and organisers are already working towards the future.” So now you know.

Of course, we don’t even touch on the possibility here that Teixeira is in negotiations with Adrian Campos to finance the latter’s struggling F1 entry. If you want to catch up with that, click here.

He told BBC Leicestershire that he was speaking to five interested parties and said: “We are currently trying to get our heads around those last few offers and pick the best way forward.

“There is a willingness on our behalf and I think on the behalf of the other parties to get Donington up and running. There is a general desire from both sides to get on with it as quickly as possible.”

He also said that he was close to getting an estimate of the probable costs of repairing the circuit – believed to be in the region of £600,000.

The circuit will be back in action for the day on March 7 when a supporters’ rally complete with classic cars and autojumble will take over the premises. For more details, visit http://www.savedonington.co.uk/

Mr Wheatcroft, speaking to his local paper The Derby Telegraph, said of the event: “We think that, with publicity, this could become a very big event indeed and are very touched by the heartfelt feelings fans have for the circuit.”

Wilson, who joins the team from Dale Coyne Racing, says the decision to leave the popular underdogs was a tough one but the timing was right, both in terms of his career and in joining a team that is on the verge of a big improvement.

“I’m really excited to work with Mike, I think he’s a really fast driver,” says Wilson. “He’s gaining experience all the time – I think we could be really good for each other.”

Conway, who struggled at times in his rookie year, says he believes there is momentum to carry forward from late-season improvements: “I hope we can bring two quick drivers and speed the process up that little bit more. He’s got a lot of experience here in America, racing on ovals, he’s had that extra year on me, so it’s great to learn from him.”

Mansell, 56, will be racing alongside his sons Greg and Leo for Buckinghamshire-based Beechdean Motorsport in a factory-supported Ginetta-Zytek Z09R. Leo is an experienced sportscar racer while Greg is working to make his name in open-wheel series.

Mansell senior’s entry raises an intriguing if perhaps not very likely prospect. As a winner of both the F1 and the US CART championships (and the only man ever to hold them in the same season, 1992/93) Mansell has already fulfilled two of three required qualifications for one variant of the prestigious Triple Crown of Motorsport.

The third? A Le Mans win. While unlikely that he and Beechdean will be able to knock both Audi and Peugeot off their perches it is a great reason for fans to cheer him on.

Mansell raced alongside Greg and Ginetta boss Lawrence Tomlinson in last year’s 1000km of Silverstone. He was also reputedly paid £10,000 by his then-F1 team boss Colin Chapman of Lotus to forego the race in 1982, as Chapman thought it offered an unnecessary risk. The sum was equal to the appearance fee he would have earned.

Speaking about his partnership with Beechdean earlier this year, he said: “The team comes fresh to the Le Mans Series with an impeccable pedigree and with full support from Zytek Engineering and I’m looking forward to working closely with Andrew [Howard, team principal] and his team. I am very excited about 2010 and the prospect of racing with both my sons for the first time.”

Howard added: “It has been an ambition of mine to race a Le Mans Prototype ever since we started racing GTs and competing at the Le Mans 24 Hours is the ultimate goal. It’s a dream come true for our young team to enter into a partnership with one of the sports most famous names in the first year at this level.

“Nigel brings a huge wealth of knowledge and experience to the team, with Leo and Greg, already established as accomplished race drivers in their own right, forming an integral part of the intensive development programme we are now setting in motion with Zytek.” He said the team would begin testing early in 2010.

Also providing British interest are the return of Allan McNish with Audi for a crack at a third victory, as well as Aston Martin returning with Darren Turner at the wheel. Speedy Sebah enters rebranded as Rebellion Racing and Dome Motorsport also reappears.

Drayson Racing is pushing on with its dramatic jump from the GT2 class to LMP1 with its new biofuel-powered Lola B09-60 Coupé, powered by a Judd V10 engine. And the team, true to form, is aiming for nothing less than a win.

Team boss Paul Drayson, who will be driving alongside the team’s longstanding pilot Jonny Cocker, said: “In my head I’ve imagined what it’s going to be like racing down the Mulsanne at night – and probably in the wet – at top speed in an LMP1 and now I’m going to be doing it for real; totally, totally incredible. Brilliant news!”

Team manager Dale White added: “It’s a dream come true to receive an invitation to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP1 class.

“We’re a small team but we have assembled what we think is the best crew and car package for a privateer to challenge for the overall win at Le Mans against the top factory and privateer teams in the world.

“It will be a massive test but one we are approaching with a level head and high expectations. We are going to do everything we can to be the ‘David’ to their ‘Goliath’.”

In LMP2 Strakka Racing will field Danny Watts and Nick Leventis, with Jonny Kane provisionally named as their third driver, while defending champion David Brabham and Marino Franchitti are listed for Highcroft racing.

And manufacturers Jaguar and BMW are both entered in the GT2 class with the former running a Jaguar XKR GT2 driven by Paul Gentilozzi, Scott Pruett and Marc Goossens. Jorg Muller and Andy Priaulx are listed for the latter driving a BMW E92 M3.

We had four UK drivers at four different teams to cover, including Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson in addition to Lewis Hamilton at McLaren and Jenson Button at Honda.

Of course, it couldn’t last.

Super Aguri went bust and a couple of times – with Coulthard hovering for three whole years on the verge of retirement and Honda’s performance so bad and then its future so uncertain – it’s looked like we might be down to just Lewis.

Add to that a paucity of young Brits in reserve roles, in the feeder series GP2 or present in any numbers in teams’ young driver development programmes, and the cupboard was really starting to look quite bare.

Happily, for us and for you, 2010 is shaping up to provide slightly richer pickings.

GP2 is brimming with home-grown talent, and Jenson and Lewis are both now world champions, settling down for a joint season at McLaren. Paul di Resta, DTM star and cousin of IRL champion Dario Franchitti, is knocking on the door at Force India with a reserve drive that is widely tipped to turn into a 2011 race seat.

And recently, out of nowhere, our hopes of a fourth name appearing on the F1 grid from among the drivers we routinely cover were unexpectedly raised – Northern Ireland’s Adam Carroll. This sounded like fantastic news.

Adam Carroll celebrates winning two races and a championship in one weekend

Carroll played a blinder in the last full season of A1GP, winning the championship for Team Ireland in a car run by Status GP – the squad now competing in GP3 in partnership with designer Gary Anderson.

He had been heavily trailed as one to watch since sealing the A1GP championship victory at Brands Hatch in May last year, just in time for the entry of several new teams into the F1 championship to provide unparalleled opportunities for getting bums on seats.

It was clear to anyone who gave the matter thought that the 27-year-old deserved a crack at F1, ought to get a crack at F1, and was more than capable of doing well there if he did – but when has any of that ever translated into a seat for anyone?

Initially he looked a good bet for a seat at Manor, but the noises coming from there changed when Virgin bought into the team and there was no place for him. But all is not lost, as a new opportunty has seemingly opened up.

Unfortunately, that potential route into to F1 is one that might cause even hardened fans of the sport, who are accustomed to more drama in the course of a fortnight than their colleagues following other sports can expect in a whole season, to pause in disbelief.

It involves one Tony Teixeira, the South African promoter of – that’s right – A1GP. The series that has proved unable to fulfil its 2009/10 season dates due to, among other reasons, a lack of cash to pay its suppliers. Including the company that transported its cars around the world, which responded by taking possession of said cars.

But that’s a whole different story from Adam Carroll.

Despite A1GP having no money, Teixeira himself still seems to be in a position to invest in motorsport. And when Campos Meta, the new F1 entrant fronted by Adrian Campos, the man who helped launch the careers of Marc Gene and Fernando Alonso, ran into trouble his name began to be mentioned.

Teixeira has not only confirmed that he is in talks with Campos but has added that he sees his involvement in F1 as a kind of crowning achievement to his World Cup of Motorsport, a way of ensuring a seat at motorsport’s top table for its champion.

Adam Carroll and his predecessor as A1GP champion, Neel Jani, shape up for a PR opportunity

Who, at the moment, is of course Adam Carroll. And, given the state of A1GP at the moment, he’s unlikely to have to hand back the silverware for at least a year or two.

Speaking honestly, now. This sounds so daft that if you were a school teacher setting your kids an essay for a creative writing assignment, and one came up with something like this, you’d slap them straight into detention so they could painstakingly craft a replacement.

But one of the things that keeps F1 so endlessly absorbing is its ability to produce watertight stories that are far more incredible than this.

The son of Sir Oswald Mosley being accused of re-enacting certain rather controversial wartime scenes with a group of specialist prostitutes? Get out of here.

OK then, did you hear the one about the team boss who picks up the phone to report an act of industrial espionage to the regulatory body and costs his company $100 million? No? How about his rival boss who plots a race win for his his favoured driver by allowing the dopey kid in the other car to crash on a new and largely untried racetrack?

Or maybe you’d prefer the rather more wholesome tale of the seven-time world champion and multiple record-holder who took a massive flier on his reputation to return to the sport at the age of 41, despite a broken neck, still feeling he had things to prove?

The point being that, however incredible Tony Teixeira’s latest venture sounds, it would be unwise to dismiss it too readily on the grounds that it lacks credibility. Far, far stranger things have happened.

And we can’t really make this point better than by quoting Adrian Campos directly, who told BBC Sport recently: “People are saying a lot of stupid things. Some are true and some are not.”

Indeed.

He says he is talking to Tony Teixeira and plans to be on the Bahrain grid with his struggling team, fielding a car for Bruno Senna – and one other lucky driver.

Recently the Campos story has got even more baroque, amidst tales of a Serbian dark horse with an unspecified funding source and no grid slot to his name buying up the Spanish squad’s car from Dallara to prevent the team from competing.

This has been denied by Adrian Campos and Carroll himself is damping down the wilder speculation, including inaccurate reports that he had visited Spain for a test, while saying that he remains hopeful that a Formula One deal might stil prove possible.

He recently told the Portadown Times, the local newspaper of his home town: “I just have to be patient but accept any deal is going to prove a long process. It is a waiting game when it comes to something as major as Formula One so all I can do is sit tight and get ready for the moment when I get that phone call, if it happens at all.

“There are so many factors outside of my control so it is impossible to state one way or another how everything is going to pan out. As much as I remain hopeful that something will happen in Formula One, nothing is done until it is done.

“I accept there will be a lot of speculation but I deal directly with the top people so know exactly how things stand and understand how many pieces need to fall into place before I would be in line for any deal.”

He also mentions the possibility of racing in America, a path profitably pursued by many Brits who have scored F1 near-misses, including former Minardi pilot Justin Wilson. His website is currently in the middle of an off-season revamp, the hallmark of a driver whose plans are not yet finalised.

So the sound advice would seem to be to not get your hopes up too high on his behalf. Trouble is, as fans of British (or indeed Irish) motorsport, it’s hard advice to follow.

We’d like nothing better than to see Carroll in an F1 seat alongside Hamilton, Button and hopefully di Resta too.

And, while we’re on the subject, we’d be quite glad if A1GP does manage to pull itself out of its present mess, field a viable Team GBR and put together a race calendar for 2010/11.

Pie in the sky? Maybe. Like Carroll, we will just have to sit tight, wait, and hope.

Despite coming second to his British team-mate Oliver Turvey in the feature race a day earlier, the Italian consolidated his championship lead after coming from seventh on the grid, unseating leader Michael Herck on the second-from-last lap.

Davide Valsecchi takes victory in the GP2 Asia round two sprint race

After the weekend Valsecchi is the runaway leader in the drivers’ standings with 35 points and Turvey is second with 16. In the teams’ championship Norfolk-based iSport is on 51 points, streets ahead of nearest rival DPR on 15.

Herck took the lead at the start of the sprint race after pole-sitter Max Chilton had an terrible getaway allowing the DPR driver a clear run into the first corner.

Chilton salvaged enough to stay running among the leaders, while behind them Super Nova’s Joseph Kral was caught up in an incident involving Barwa Addax’ Sergio Perez and Meritus’ Luca Filippi, ending Kral’s race and triggering a safety car. ART driver Sam Bird also exited without completing a lap.

Ricci took advantage of the restart to pass Rossi and awaken hopes of a first-ever 1-2 for DPR, while Perez passed Turvey, who had started eighth on the reversed grid, for P6.

Chilton had stabilised in fifth place while ART’s Jules Bianchi was trying to make amends stalling on the grid by working his way up through the field with a series of daring overtaking manoeuvres. However Perez and Valsecchi were both working hard to take control of the race, with the latter setting a series of fastest laps in pursuit of Herck and Ricci at the front.

He took Ricci on lap 14 and Herck on lap 19, securing the top spot on the podium for himself by a clear two seconds – but DPR was still celebrating its double-podium finishing after its pair finished second and third.

Perez held on to finish fourth ahead of Turvey with Chilton picking up a final point for sixth place.

Valsecchi describes his race

Speaking in the post-race press conference, Valsecchi lamented his bad start but pointed out he had gained several places by the end of the second lap: “After that, I thought I am here close to the top, so if I can take care of the tyres maybe I can fight at the end for the victory.

“It was not so easy because the yellow cars there were really fast and competitive and so, at the beginning, to keep their pace was not so easy. Ricci was a good defender and so I had to fight a lot with him and I lost some time from Herck.

“I said maybe again today I finish second – my team told me ‘you have gained two tenths’ and I said hey two tenths, I am three seconds behind!

“It was not enough, but then I saw I was gaining, gaining, gaining, gaining and you start to believe in it, and start to be confident, and you start to be really patient and at the end I got it with one lap left.”

Turvey hails feature race breakthrough

Oliver Turvey triumphed in the Abu Dhabi feature race

Following Friday’s feature race, Turvey spoke of his delight at his maiden series win, telling journalists at the press conference how he had worked hard to improve his November performance: “I got a fantastic start. I had put a lot of effort into finding out as much information about the start because last time here in November we had two not so good starts.

“So I worked hard with the team to make sure I understood everything about the start. I got a fantastic getaway and was quite clear into turn one and from there on I was able to have a fairly comfortable first few laps and try to make a bit of a break.

“From there I was trying to control the pace, control the tyres, look after the tyres, make sure we didn’t work them too hard and you know just make sure no one got too close. Yes it was a fantastic race, the pit stop went well and the team did a good job there. We were able to lead the whole way.”

He said that he had feared a late safety car period could have cost him the race, closing the gap from his car to that of team-mate Valsecchi after he had already wrested back his lead following the pitstops.

Speaking of contact between the team-mates that happened at that point, he said: “I held the inside line into the top chicane and Davide had a good slipstream, he got on the outside of me but then in the braking zone he came across, I had nowhere to go.

“We just touched a little bit but I am sure it wasn’t a problem. From then on we were able to have a very good race and it was fantastic for the team.

“iSport have done a fantastic job and the car has been really strong all weekend. Throughout the race I had no problems and I felt really confident with the car and so thanks to them.”

Sprint race results

1. Davide Valsecchi, iSport
2. Michael Herck, DPR
3. Giacomo Ricci, DPR
4. Sergio Perez, Addax
5. Oliver Turvey, iSport
6. Max Chilton, Ocean
7. Jules Bianchi, ART
8. Charles Pic, Arden
9. Alexander Rossi, Meritus
10. Vladimir Arabadzhiev, Rapax
11. Javier Villa, Arden
12. Marcus Ericsson, Super Nova
13. Dani Clos, Trident
14. Christian Vietoris, DAMS
15. Daniel Zampieri, Rapax
16. Edoardo Piscopo, DAMS
17. Luca Filippi, Meritus
18. Alberto Valerio, Coloni
19. Giedo van der Garde, Addax
20. Plamen Kralev, Trident

Did not finish

• Will Bratt, Coloni, 18 laps
• Fabio Leimer, Ocean, 16 laps
• Josef Kral, Super Nova, 0 laps
• Sam Bird, ART, 0 laps

Valsecci retains the championship lead after three races, having won one and finished runner-up in the other two, but the 22-year-old from Penrith moves up to second following his victory.

Turvey had started from second on the grid but grabbed the lead at the start as polesitter Charles Pic floundered, allowing both iSport cars past.

Valsecchi stayed close on his tail and made a move after the pitstops, gaining a fractional lead over his team-mate as they raced through turns 11 to 13 – but only at the cost of a clash of wheels that sent both cars across the run-off area and wiped out their advantage over Javier Villa, Jules Bianchi and Pic.

Turvey regained the lead almost immediately and held it to the flag, despite a late safety car. His eventual margin of victory was 0.6 seconds from Valsecchi with Bianchi third.

Late retirements for Luca Filippi, Giedo van der Garde and Marcus Ericsson shuffled several of the lower-placed drivers up the order, giving Ocean’s Max Chilton an unexpected eighth place – and with it pole for the sprint race tomorrow, subject to any action by GP2’s traditionally trigger-happy stewards.

Will Bratt drove from near the back of the grid to a respectable 12th place – despite a tussle with team-mate Alberto Valerio that left the Brazilian out of the race – but Sam Bird’s run of bad luck in the series intensified.

After a very racy, but ultimately disappointing, pair of 18th places at the previous meeting thr ART driver retired from today’s race on lap four having been forced into a spin at the start and suffering two further incidents.

Provisional results

1. Oliver Turvey, iSport
2. Davide Valsecchi, iSport
3. Jules Bianchi, ART
4. Javier Villa, Arden
5. Giacomo Ricci, DPR
6. Alexander Rossi, Meritus
7. Michael Herck, DPR
8. Max Chilton, Ocean
9. Sergio Perez, Addax
10. Josef Kral, Super Nova
11. Charles Pic, Arden
12. Will Bratt, Coloni
13. Vladimir Arabadzhiev, Rapax
14. Luca Filippi, Meritus
15. Alberto Valerio, Coloni
16. Plamen Kralev, Trident
17. Marcus Ericsson, Super Nova

Did not finish

• Fabio Leimer, Ocean, 27 laps
• Giedo van der Garde, Addax, 25 laps
• Daniel Zampieri, Rapax, 23 laps
• Dani Clos, Trident, 9 laps
• Christian Vietoris, DAMS, 7 laps
• Sam Bird, ART, 4 laps
• Edoardo Piscopo, DAMS, 0 laps

Whether or not he and fellow Brit Duncan Tappy, who is also hopeful of funding a season in the series, both succeed will prove a test of its early promise to provide a route into top-flight open-wheel racing for talented but underfunded drivers.

Tandy was the winner of the 2007 Formula Ford Festival and that year’s FPA Shootout, securing him a place among the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award nominees, while Tappy is a two-time award nominee following his Formula Ford victory in 2005 and Formula Renault UK title in 2007.

Both have struggled to fund their racing careers beyond that point.

Nick Tandy was successful in British F3

Tandy said: “F2 is my greatest and probably my last real chance of becoming a professional single seater driver. If I am racing in F2 this season then there will be no messing from me. There is only one aim and that is to win the championship.

“The link with Williams is a massive draw – testing an F1 car would be a huge achievement and of course there is the chance to win an FIA superlicense – F2 has rewards that you just don’t get in other series.”

Last season Tandy took a victory in British F3, racing for his late brother Joe’s team JTR Racing, but lack of money prevented him from mounting a full-season challenge. He said one of the major attractions of Formula Two is the championship prize, as the successful driver will earn a test with the Williams F1 team.

“I was the first ever driver in the JTR F3 team, which was largely built around car development for Mygale. It turned into a lot more than that of course, as we went from nothing to being a front running team in just 12 months, which was pretty unheard of in F3. The win at Rockingham was obviously the biggest win of my career so far.

“I genuinely feel we would have been able to challenge Daniel Ricciardo for the title last year, but unfortunately we had to stop racing midway through the season as the funding just wasn’t there.”

He said seeing the opportunities enjoyed by well-funded contemporaries such as Ricciardo, who won the title with Carlin and is now a Red Bull reserve driver in F1, could be frustrating.

“I think that Formula Two is now my opportunity to continue my career in single seaters. F2 gives drivers like me the chance to reach Formula One for a fraction of the budget when compared to things like F3 and most definitely GP2.”

If he makes it onto the grid he could be challenged for the title by Surrey’s Tappy, who is also trying to find the money to compete in the series this year and believes that he, too, could be a championship contender.

Duncan Tappy took part in F2 winter testing

Tappy, who spent 2008 and 2009 with a mish-mash of drives in series such as Superleague, the Renault World Series, Formula Master and Indy Lights, said: “Formula Two is definitely what I am pushing to do this season. It is at the top of the list but we still need to raise some finances. Things are going reasonably well in that area and hopefully we will know more in the coming weeks.

“F2 is a very impressive championship – I want to make a career out of motorsport and I believe that F2 gives me the opportunity to get as high as possible in single seaters.”

Tappy was among those testing at Portimao in December, ending up sixth-fastest overall – a little more than two tenths slower than the timesheet-topping Kazim Vasiliauskas.

He added: “The F2 car is very nice and comfortable to drive. I got out of the cockpit with a big smile on my face after each session, which is the important thing. I had a few sessions to get used to the turbo as it was my first experience with such a system, and things seemed to go pretty well.

“The F2 package is very good. The Formula One test is a really big thing to aim for as it will hopefully open doors. I don’t want to be competing for the odd podium and I will not be racing just to make up the numbers – I plan to be challenging for the title.”

A season in Formula Two costs a basic £275,000 plus VAT – although last year’s champion Andy Soucek is said to have used personal sponsorship to hire extra engineers beyond those supplied by the series. By contrast, a season in the official F1 feeder series, GP2, requires a driver to find up to a million pounds in sponsorship.

Williams JPH1B: front view

The Williams JPH1B has just gone through pre-season testing at Barcelona and Portimao, put through its paces by 2009 champion Andy Soucek and series test driver Steven Kane.

It provided consistently fast times at both tracks, with Soucek’s lap time of 1:33.280 at Portimao beating the corresponding 2009 pole time for Formula Renault 3.5 by almost three-tenths of a second.

In Barcelona Soucek was able to set a personal best of 1:35.770 – compared to his best effort of 1:38.163 when F2 visited the circuit in 2009.

New features include aerodynamic revisions following what is described as an extensive CFD evaluation programme by the Williams team that is reported to have increased its maximum downforce by 30 per cent and its aerodynamic efficiency by 24 per cent.

Williams JPH1B: side view

Formula Two series director Jonathan Palmer said the testing had heralded significant advances.

“Patrick Head and the Williams F1 personnel working on F2 have done a great job to substantially hike the performance of the F2 car for 2010. In 2009 to achieve the target of making our first race on schedule, development time was inevitably compromised as the design had to be frozen for manufacture quite early.

“The 2010 F2 package of upgrades is the result of many months’ careful work, particularly aerodynamic modelling with the CFD programme. The team went to Barcelona via Lurcy-Levis in France to do straight line testing, which reassuringly verified the CFD theory.

“It was very encouraging to see such instant pace improvement on the opening day of our test programme at Barcelona. To be 2.4 seconds faster than our fastest pole position time so soon and in less than optimal conditions was pretty impressive.”

Williams JPH1B in the pitlane

2009 F2 Champion Andy Soucek added: “We’ve made some massive improvements to the F2 car. When you have more power, less weight and better aerodynamics then the car is always going to be better, but to be so much quicker straight away was really impressive – even more so because the temperatures were extremely cold and there is very little rubber on the surface of the track.

“Barcelona is perhaps the most complete track in Europe to test on, which is why F1 teams love going there, and it really gave us a good basis to set up the car and evaluate the new changes. Overall the car feels similar to drive to last year’s but you can really feel the effect of the aerodynamic improvements and the extra grip they bring.”

All pictures: FIA Formula Two Championship and Sutton Images