Rapax Team

Rapax Team was an Italian motor racing team. The team's history can be traced back to when the GP Racing team was founded in 1997, and also to when Piquet Sports was created in 2000 by triple world champion Nelson Piquet. In 2007, Piquet Sports and GP Racing merged to create "Minardi Piquet Sports". In 2008, the team dropped "Minardi" from their name.[2] In early 2009, the team was sold and rebranded as Piquet GP, but changed its name again in November to Rapax Team, once all remaining ties to part-owner Piquet were cut.

Italy Rapax
Founded2010
Founder(s)Gianfranco Sovernigo
Valter Sovernigo
Folded2017
BaseVeggiano, Padua, Italy
Team principal(s)Gianfranco Sovernigo[1]
Andrea Bergamini[1]
Former seriesFIA Formula 2 Championship
GP2 Series
GP2 Asia Series
Noted driversMonaco Stefano Coletti
Russia Sergey Sirotkin
Netherlands Nyck de Vries
Teams'
Championships
GP2 Series:
2010
Drivers'
Championships
GP2 Series:
2010: Pastor Maldonado
Websitehttp://www.rapaxteam.com/

History

During 2009, the team was sold and all remaining ties with part-owner Nelson Piquet were severed. The team was rebranded "Rapax" (Latin for "predator") at the beginning of 2010, after the Legio XXI Rapax Roman legion. Pastor Maldonado rejoined the team, alongside Luiz Razia. Maldonado won six races on his way to the drivers' championship, and Razia backed him up with 11th place overall, allowing Rapax to win the teams' championship for the first time, and in the first year of its new identity.

For 2011, Maldonado graduated to Formula One with the Williams team and Razia moved to the new Caterham Team AirAsia; Rapax signed Fabio Leimer and Julián Leal to replace them. Leimer won a single race but was unable build on it, restricting him to fourteenth place in the drivers' championship, whilst Leal did not score at all; Rapax dropped to tenth in the teams' championship.

In 2012, the team improved to ninth overall through the combined efforts of Tom Dillmann, Stefano Coletti, Ricardo Teixeira and Daniël de Jong. Dillmann was the most successful with a single victory, but was dropped for budgetary reasons mid-season and replaced by De Jong. De Jong's Auto GP racing commitments also resulted in him missing the final two races of the championship, for which he was replaced by Scuderia Coloni refugee Coletti. By contrast, Teixeira competed in all but one round of the season, but failed to score any points.

For 2013 the team kept Coletti and signed with Simon Trummer. Coletti took three race wins and improved to the fifth place in the standings. While Trummer had six point-scoring finishes on his way to the 20th place in the driver standings.

Trummer was retained for the 2014 GP2 Series. He was joined by Adrian Quaife-Hobbs. The team had suffered a weak season, with just one podium that Quaife-Hobbs had collected.

The team had completely changed their line-up for the 2015 GP2 Series, signing with Sergey Sirotkin and Robert Vișoiu.[3][4] The team had scored its first win since 2013 Monaco round with Sirotkin in the 2015 Silverstone round.[5] Sirotkin was also the first Rapax driver since Maldonado who had finished in the top-three in the driver standings with the team. For the last two rounds of the season Visoiu was replaced by Gustav Malja.[6]

Malja remained with the team for the full 2016 GP2 Series campaign.[7] Arthur Pic completed the team line-up.[8] Malja had podiums at Spa and Monza, while Pic finished on podium at Hockenheimring. Pic was replaced by Johnny Cecotto Jr. in the two final rounds. Rapax ended ninth in the team standings.

In 2017, the GP2 Series was rebranded to FIA Formula 2 Championship. The team had started the season with Cecotto and Nyck de Vries.[9] De Vries won the Sprint Monaco F2 race — the first race win for the Rapax since Sirotkin in 2015.[10] At Spielberg Cecotto was replaced by Sergio Canamasas.[10] Rapax field two new drivers at Spa, signing with Louis Delétraz and Roberto Merhi.[11] René Binder had a one-off round appearance for Rapax at Jerez.[12] Despite not having a permanent driver line-up, results shown by De Vries helped the team to achieve fifth place in the teams standings — the highest position since they took the teams' championship back in 2010. But the team decided to stop their racing activity and leave the FIA Formula 2 Championship.[13]

Results

GP2 Series

YearCarDriversRacesWinsPolesFast lapsPointsD.C.T.C.
2010Dallara GP2/08-Mecachrome Pastor Maldonado20605871st1st
Luiz Razia200012811th
2011Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Fabio Leimer181011514th10th
Julián Leal18000027th
2012Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Stefano Coletti220025013th†9th
Tom Dillmann141002915th
Daniël de Jong8000026th
Ricardo Teixeira22000029th
2013Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Stefano Coletti223151355th7th
Simon Trummer220002021st
2014Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Adrian Quaife-Hobbs220003013th9th
Simon Trummer220002617th
2015Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Sergey Sirotkin211111393rd6th
Robert Vișoiu180002017th
Gustav Malja3000125th‡
2016Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Gustav Malja220005313th9th
Arthur Pic180003614th
Johnny Cecotto Jr.40001818th
  • D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

† Includes points scored for Scuderia Coloni.

‡ Includes points scored for Trident Racing.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

YearCarDriversRacesWinsPolesFast lapsPointsD.C.T.C.
2017Dallara GP2/11-Mecachrome Nyck de Vries221021147th†5th
Sergio Canamasas140002114th†
Johnny Cecotto Jr.80001616th
Louis Delétraz220001617th†
Roberto Merhi80001618th†
René Binder2000028th

† Shared his position and results with another team.

GP2 Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearChassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers123456789101112131415161718192021222324T.C.Points
2010GP2/08
Mecachrome
B
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
1th115
Luiz Razia727552RetRetRet15Ret1310Ret1610Ret1072
Pastor Maldonado63211161414120†1DSQ1RetRetRet179
2011GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
10th15
Fabio LeimerRet208197Ret141511DSQ81111RetRet72
Julián Leal19Ret1714RetRet119222114920RetRetRet16Ret
2012GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
BHR1
FEA
BHR1
SPR
BHR2
FEA
BHR2
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MRN
FEA
MRN
SPR
9th44
Ricardo Teixeira212417132320Ret2320Ret1815DSQ161920181520181721
Tom Dillmann181161081221211RetRet129Ret
Daniël de Jong169Ret1315191311
Stefano Coletti84138
2013GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MRN
FEA
MRN
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
7th155
Stefano Coletti3123416121†103191620†1323Ret13122420†9
Simon Trummer96914191613232416149671211Ret161613137
2014GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
9th56
Adrian Quaife-Hobbs1069998241813151482121121118
Tio Ellinas2114
Kevin Giovesi1920
Simon Trummer7212RetRet182020251861411131817191115211716
2015GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SOC
FEA
SOC
SPR
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
6th159
Sergey Sirotkin121416105324183396Ret54215413C
Robert Vișoiu571823151311912119715169Ret1718
Gustav Malja161316C
2016GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
SEP
FEA
SEP
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
9th107
Gustav Malja910141210Ret13162219131468823795Ret14
Arthur Pic13Ret109Ret891814115Ret431422†Ret11
Johnny Cecotto Jr.13972

FIA Formula 2 Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearChassis
Engine
Tyres
Drivers12345678910111213141516171819202122T.C.Points
2017GP2/11
Mecachrome
P
BHR
FEA
BHR
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
BAK
FEA
BAK
SPR
RBR
FEA
RBR
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
JER
FEA
JER
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
5th137
Nyck de Vries10610Ret712Ret1316†DNS733
Louis Delétraz141274171210Ret
Johnny Cecotto Jr.159171082Ret14
Sergio Canamasas15954RetRet
Roberto Merhi761151610
René Binder1517

Notes and references

Achievements
Preceded by GP2 Series Teams' Champion
2010
Succeeded by