Stoffel Vandoorne will conduct a test in Super Formula
Crowned with his GP2 championship title, Stoffel Vandoorne will test a Super Formula car at the end of the month for the rookie tests. However, nothing is decided at the moment.
Times have been tough for GP2 champions since 2012. Davide Valsecchi won the title but didn’t secure a full-time seat in Formula 1. In 2013, Fabio Leimer won the title, but like his Italian counterpart, he didn’t find a full-time position in F1, as he ended up driving in the WEC with Rebellion Racing. As for the 2014 champion, after a test driver position at Lotus, Jolyon Palmer became a full-time driver for the 2016 season.
In the 2015 season, Stoffel Vandoorne dominates the competition, but the Belgian driver will likely have to settle for a reserve driver position at McLaren since only the Manor seats are now available and many candidates are interested. He will therefore go to Suzuka at the end of the month to test a Super Formula, as he explains in *Motorsport* during the last race weekend: “It’s a good car, no doubt about it. It’s at least as fast as a GP2 or maybe even faster. I think the Super Formula cars are really fast. They don’t have that much power, but the cornering speeds are impressive: they’re certainly higher than current F1 cars. So if I’m a reserve driver next year, the Super Formula is one of the options. But it hasn’t been decided if I’ll do it or not.”
This season, Oliver Turvey, another McLaren driver, also participated in the Japanese championship, driving a Honda-powered single-seater. This formula has the merit of keeping him in race rhythm and allowing for on-track battles. The downside is that it multiplies the trips back and forth with Europe, in addition to his travel as a McLaren reserve driver.
