Stoffel Vandoorne will contest his second GP2 campaign, after it was announced he would remain with the ART Grand Prix team for 2015, and has the title set firmly in his sights.
Vandoorne began his racing career in 1998, when at the age of six he began karting in his native Belgium. Ten years later in 2008, he won the Belgian KF2 Championship, and the following year finished runner-up in the CIK-FIA World Cup.
Following his karting success, Vandoorne made the transition to single-seaters, entering the Formula Renault Eurocup 1.6 Series, where he claimed the championship at first attempt, with six wins and three further podium finishes to his name.
For 2011, he made the step up to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series. A solid season saw him take a single podium and eight other point-scoring finishes to take fifth in the championship. In the same year, he also contested the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, where eight podiums led him to third overall in the standings.
Vandoorne remained in the Eurocup for 2012, where he won the title after a fierce season-long battle with Daniil Kvyat, who now races in Formula 1 for Red Bull. After four wins and seven further podiums, Vandoorne finished ten points ahead of his Russian rival.
2013 saw a massive turning point in the young Belgian’s career. Following his triumph in the Eurocup, he was signed to McLaren’s Young Driver Programme, which ever since has been paving a way for Vandoorne to race in Formula 1. The same year, he signed up to race in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, where he finished runner-up to Kevin Magnussen, another McLaren junior who was then promoted to a race seat in Formula 1.
After missing out on a Formula 1 seat, Vandoorne made the switch to the GP2 Series with ART Grand Prix for 2014. The Belgian, keen to show McLaren he has what it takes to be a future Formula 1 driver, left his rivals trailing in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, becoming only the third driver to win their GP2 debut, after Charles Pic in 2010 and Heikki Kovalainen, who won the first ever GP2 race in 2005.
A dry run for the remainder of the first half of the season set Vandoorne back in the standings, but a phenomenal second half of the season which saw three more wins and six additional podiums meant the Belgian shot up to second in the standings, finishing runner-up behind Jolyon Palmer.
Vandoorne remains with the ART Grand Prix team for 2015, and after his incredible rookie year he will start the season as one of the favourites for the title. “In the wake of a great season in 2014, I am very happy to continue with ART Grand Prix in GP2″, said Vandoorne in an ART Grand Prix press release. “We showed we are the team to beat and many of our competitors have already pointed to us as their target, it’s normal and rather flattering. I am confident because it will be my second year with a fantastic team that I know well. Apart from the DRS, the regulations won’t change and I now have experience of the circuits, races, pit stops and tire management. The objective is clear: we want to win the title.”
