The calendar for the 2017 GP2 Series season has finally been announced, and it sees a return to Bahrain at the beginning of the season and a stand-alone event at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain in October.
The season will contain eleven rounds, although the race at the Sepang International Circuit has been discontinued, and has been replaced by a round at Jerez to try and keep the costs down, with the round the first since Bahrain in 2015 where GP2 will not support Formula 1.
Eight of the eleven rounds will be contested in Europe, although the opener will be at the Bahrain International Circuit in Bahrain on the weekend of 14-16 April, before visits to the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona and Monte Carlo in May.
The championship then visits the Baku Street Circuit in Azerbaijan before rounds in Austria, Great Britain and Hungary in July, before Belgium in August, Italy in September and the race at Jerez in October. The season once again concludes with its now traditional flyaway to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi at the end of November.
“I am pleased to reveal this season’s calendar which is made of eleven race weekends again, including ten events alongside Formula 1 and the return of Sakhir,” said GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel.
“We’re delighted to race in Jerez between Monza and Abu Dhabi. We wanted to have the same number of events (11) including three flyaway rounds in 2017 as in the previous year, but we were mindful of freight costs.
“This meant not adding a fourth flyaway round and staying in Europe for a stand-alone event. This is also why we decided to hold our final pre-season test session in Bahrain, ahead of the season opener.”
2017 GP2 Series Season Calendar
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