What a difference three years makes for GP2 team iSport

by Lewis Beales
Friday, March 15, 2013
6:18 PM

Motorsport is notorious for its highs and lows and from contemplating a Formula One entry a few years ago iSport International will not be represented on the grid at the start of the GP2 season after selling its cars and entry to Russian Time to avoid potentially going into liquidation.

The Carlton Rode team were one of the prospective candidates for a place on the Grand Prix grid when the governing body, the FIA, allocated three additional places for aspiring Formula One teams in 2010.

However, the local team have been unable to attract fully-funded drivers for the 2013 season ending their participation in the series they won back in 2007 with Timo Glock, the former Toyota and Marussia F1 racer.

Team principal Paul Jackson recently explained to Autosport that the lack of drivers with the requisite £1.5m budget was the sole reason for him selling up.

“We are not prepared to risk our business by starting the season with no means to see it through and going bust by the middle of it,” he said.

“It’s obviously a very, very sad situation. We have tried all workable solutions, and decided there is no point in committing commercial suicide.

“The economy is obviously very tight, but we are in the position where we don’t owe anything to anyone, and we are keen to sort the situation out in full cooperation with GP2 and then move on to a new project when we have cleared our heads a little.

“We are a team with a good reputation, both for engineering standards and for paying our bills. We wish to maintain that in the future.”

While welcoming Russian Time to the GP2 series CEO Bruno Michel added: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank iSport International and Paul Jackson for eight great seasons in GP2 and wish them all the best for the future.”

Last year iSport narrowly missed out on fifth place in the Team’s Championship, by five points, after running Marcus Ericsson and Jolyon Palmer, son of Jonathan Palmer owner of Snetterton Circuit through his Motorsport Vision concern.

Their two drivers stood on the podium eight times with both Ericsson and Palmer picking up one win apiece, the latter at the Monaco Grand Prix supporting event.

Ericsson finished in second place in race two at the Principality a feat he repeated in Spain. At his home event at Silverstone Palmer gained third place while his team-mate won in Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

At Monza, in Italy, the pair claimed a pair of third places in the two events while Ericsson round off the season with a second place in Singapore to end the local team’s participation in the series.