The new Sky Sports F1 channel will include full live coverage of the GP2 and GP3 support series races at every Formula One weekend they appear at throughout the 2012 season, the television giant gleefully confirmed today.
Sky Sports have secured the rights to all 20 Formula One race weekends for 2012, in a rights-sharing deal with the BBC.
The controversial move has seen the Pay TV company confirm that the sport will be shown on a new standalone 'Sky Sports F1 HD' channel.
And they confirmed on Thursday that their weekend coverage would extend to live coverage of both main F1 support packages.
Both series compete in two races per F1 weekend, with a race in each following qualifying on Saturday, and a further race in each category taking place on Sunday morning before the GP.
"We are delighted to be showing GP2 and GP3 live on Sky Sports F1 HD," bellowed the channel's executive producer Martin Turner.
"There are six former GP2 champions in Formula One this season, including Lewis Hamilton and last year's winner Romain Grosjean.
"The series promises nail-biting and fascinating racing and we'll track gifted drivers through the ranks as they aim for Formula One."
The announcement from Sky did not include details on who would commentate on the races, though the channel's lead commentator David Croft previously covered GP2 for ITV in 2008.
The new GP2 season kicks off at the Malaysia Grand Prix in late March, while the GP3 Series will join the schedule at all eight European rounds.
Prior to this new deal, both series were shown on the Eurosport channel.
GP2 was established in 2005 as a replacement series for Formula 3000, and has so far seen champions Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Timo Glock, Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean graduate to F1.
The junior GP3 Series was established in 2010, and both champions - Esteban Gutierrez and Valterri Bottas - currently have F1 reserve driver roles at Sauber and Williams respectively.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
