Series to retain current chassis for three more years

In a move to cut costs for struggling GP2 Series teams, organisers have confirmed that there will be no new chassis introduced at the end of the current season.

In the past, each new generation of hardware has been introduced to coincide the three-year cycle that teams sign up for to compete in the feeder series. The current chassis, the GP2/11, was introduced in 2011 and was the third different single-seater design used by the series since GP2 started in 2005.

But after a number of teams dropped out of the competition last winter over concerns over costs, the organisers have decided not to undergo the expected refresh of the chassis and engine specifications. That means that teams can continue to use their equipment for a second three-year cycle from 2014 to 2016, assuming that they decide to apply for and are successful in winning a new spot in the GP2 Series championship for that period.

"The economic crisis has been hitting the industry and everybody is feeling it," admitted GP2 team principal Bruno Michel. "So we have taken several decisions in order to lower the costs for next season and beyond. This will definitely make it easier for our teams to fill their seats for the next three seasons."

The series has also been working with chassis suppliers Dallara and engine manufacturers Mecachrome to cut the costs of replacement parts for teams needing to repair damage after a race weekend.

And the series is also looking into freighting equipment to the next race venue by boat rather than by air in order to reduce the costs of getting to each event. The organisers have said that this means also looking at changes to the season schedule to make sufficient time between races to allow the use of cheaper transportation wherever possible.

However the series has said that it will "leave the option open" with regards to introducing an upgrade kit to the current chassis for 2015/16 to improve the performance of what will by then be quite an old design and to allow it to keep aligned with forthcoming changes in F1 car design.

Even so, the cost of purchasing the upgrade kits will be significantly less than purchasing entire new chassis, which is what the teams were facing at the end of 2013 if they were to stay in the championship for a new cycle.