GP2 has revealed its calendar for 2017 including a standalone event at Jerez:
14th-16th April – Bahrain International Circuit
12th-14th May – Circuit de Catalunya
25th-27th May – Monaco
23rs-25th June – Baku City Circuit
7th-9th July – Red Bull Ring
14th-16th July – Silverstone
28th-30th July – Hungaroring
25th-27th August – Spa-Francorchamps
1st-3rd September – Monza
6th-8th October – Jerez de la Frontera
24th-26th November – Yas Marina
Series boss Bruno Michel explained the reason for the non-F1 round: “We wanted to have the same number of events (11) including three flyaway rounds in 2017 as in the previous year, but we were mindful of freight costs. This meant not adding a fourth flyaway round and staying in Europe for a standalone event. This is also why we decided to hold our final pre-season test session in Bahrain, ahead of the season opener.”
The significance here, of course, it that without Germany GP2 would have had to follow F1 outside Europe to keep their calendar at 11 events. Clearly teams weren’t prepared to swallow that cost, particularly with so few drivers confirmed so far.