Orleans-Borbon: ART doesn't cheat.

by Jorge Girao

ART Grand Prix's domination of the GP2 Series practically since its beginning has naturally led to some speculation about the way the team has managed to reach the top.

by Jorge Girao

ART Grand Prix's domination of the GP2 Series practically since its beginning has naturally led to some speculation about the way the team has managed to reach the top.

In the last two seasons, ART drivers have won 13 races out of forty, which allowed Nico Rosberg to conquer the series' first title and rookie Lewis Hamilton to lead this year's championship almost from the start of the campaign. Those sort of results have prompted less charitable members of the paddock to suggest that the French squad could be using less-than-orthodox methods to attain their results, but Alfonso Orleans-Borbon dismissed the rumours, underlining the good work carried out by ART principals Nicolas Todt and Frederic Vasseur.

"I think they work hard to achieve this kind of result," the Racing Engineering team principal insisted, "A lot of people say that they are cheating, but that's not my opinion."

Specifically, some quarters believe that ART receives data from Ferrari, based on the fact that Todt's father, Jean, heads up the Scuderia's Formula One team. It is claimed that, this way, the French squad could overcome the limitations imposed by the basic data recorder provided by GP2 but, again, Orleans-Borbon dismisses the suggestion, insisting that there is nothing illicit about the practice - if it is happening at all.

"Is that illegal? There isn't a word that says they are not allowed to," he explained, "They are not doing anything illegal. We can sit down and cry but, instead of crying, I would rather work and try to catch ART. Is ART receiving data from Ferrari? Maybe. Is it illegal? No."

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