Imola replaces Bahrain GP2 round

The series had been scrambling to find a replacement event since political upheaval in the Gulf state led to the stand-alone round in February and the support slot for the Bahrain Grand Prix being dropped, leaving the series with the prospect of the Asia Series season being confined to last month's Abu Dhabi weekend.

An additional complication was that the cars and equipment had been stranded in Bahrain when the teams withdrew two weeks ago. However series CEO Bruno Michel told AUTOSPORT that both problems had been addressed.

"We have solved all of the issues," he said. "First of all we got the cars and the freight back from Bahrain, which was the most important thing that we had to make happen. Now everything is in Europe.

"We needed a week to find a place, make sure that it was properly organised and that we could do something good. So we finally chose Imola, and will go and race there for one event, which will be the last event for GP2 Asia and will replace the two events that were cancelled in Bahrain."

The Imola round will be held between 18-20 March and will largely follow a standard format, with the only tweak being the addition of an extra practice session.

For details of Michel's plans for the next GP2 Asia Series season, please see this week's issue of AUTOSPORT magazine.