2010 GP3 Series
The 2010 GP3 Series season was the first season of the GP3 Series, a feeder series for the GP2 Series. The championship was contested over sixteen races held at eight rounds, beginning on 8 May at Circuit de Catalunya and ending on 12 September at Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Ten teams were announced, running three cars each.
The inaugural title was claimed by ART Grand Prix driver Esteban Gutiérrez, having taken the final pole position of the season at Monza to put him out of reach of title rival Robert Wickens. Gutiérrez took five race wins during the season, four of which coming in the higher points-rewarding races held on Saturdays. He also took four further podium finishes en route to a 17-point championship win over Wickens. Wickens eventually ended the season with three victories at Hockenheim, Spa-Francorchamps – despite spinning in wet conditions and damaging the nose of his Status Grand Prix car against the pit wall – and Monza, as well as four second-place finishes, two of which being behind Gutiérrez.
Nico Müller finished in third position for Jenzer Motorsport, taking victories in Valencia and at the Hungaroring. He finished 15 points clear of Gutiérrez's team-mate Alexander Rossi, who took wins from pole position in the sprint races in Barcelona and at the Hungaroring. Rio Haryanto was fifth for Manor Racing, winning in Istanbul from a reverse-grid pole position. Other victories were taken by Status Grand Prix's Daniel Morad at Silverstone, Pål Varhaug won the season-opening race in Barcelona and Adrien Tambay won from 27th on the grid at Spa in a wet/dry race. ART Grand Prix also claimed the teams' championship, having done so at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing 44 points clear of nearest challengers Status Grand Prix, while Jenzer Motorsport finished in third position ahead of Manor Racing.
Teams and drivers
For the first two tests of the season, teams were given numbers in relation to alphabetical order. Thus, Addax were given 1, 2 and 3, with ART receiving 4, 5 and 6, and so forth. However, a "qualifying" session was held at Circuit Paul Ricard on 1 April 2010, where Alexander Rossi ended quickest. With this, ART ran cars 1, 2 and 3 during the season.| Team | Driver name | Rounds | |
 SeasonFirst ever round in GP3 Series began in Catalunya. Qualifying was won by Nigel Melker. Feature race was won by Pål Varhaug and sprint race was taken in top by American driver Alexander Rossi.In the second round, at Istanbul, Nigel Melker take again pole position for the feature race. The feature race was won by Esteban Gutiérrez, and Rio Haryanto storms to epic Race 2 victory. Third stop, was in Portimão, taking to 19–20 June, but event was cancelled along with GP2 Series. Then, the battle was reversed on Valencia, and win in Race 1 was taken by Mexican Esteban Gutiérrez, while Nico Müller dominates in Race 2. Fourth round was in Silverstone, second consecutive feature race win for Esteban Gutiérrez. Daniel Morad take victory Race 2 from 2nd on the grid. Fifth round was in Hockenheim, first race was won by Robert Wickens, while Mexican dominates in Race 2. Sixth stop was at the Hungaroring. For the first time, Esteban Gutiérrez doesn't have win in each races. First race was won by Nico Müller, and second was dominated by Alexander Rossi. In seventh stop, at Spa-Francorchamps, there was a lot of rain in first race and the race would be stopped. The winner was Robert Wickens, and in second race there was again rain, and all drivers goes to slicks, except Adrien Tambay, who won from 27th on the grid! Final round, at Monza there was only two title contenders - Esteban Gutiérrez and Robert Wickens. Mexican win in qualifying with victory in Race 1 and fastest lap. He won the title, but in second race, he crashed and the race was over for him. Robert Wickens set the victory and the fastest lap. He crashed in the pit lane, but comfortably last win of the first ever year of GP3 Series. The carThe first chassis used by the GP3 Series was the GP3/10 built by Dallara, who also produces cars in the championship's sister series GP2. It is equipped with a 6-speed paddle shift gearbox and a four-cylinder 2.0 litre turbocharged engine with 280 bhp developed by Renault Sport. The chassis used tyres supplied by Pirelli, who would then go on to be the tyre supplier for Formula One and GP2 from 2011.2010 ScheduleAn eight-round calendar was announced on 18 December 2009. On 30 April 2010, it was announced that the series would increase to nine rounds, with a round in support of the added. With the cancellation of the round in Portimão, the calendar returned to eight rounds.The following rounds were included on the provisional calendars published by the FIA but were cancelled: Championship standingsTeams' Championship
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