Kobayashi tipped for GP2 Asia title

The Japanese driver won two sprint races in Malaysia and Bahrain in the inaugural Asian series last year and added another sprint victory at Barcelona in the summer series.

He topped last week's GP2 Asia test at Shanghai by six tenths of a second and his team boss has high expectations for the next 12 months, starting with the opening round in China this weekend.

"I believe the start of the new season will show everybody that he is getting stronger," Boullier told this week's Autosport magazine.

"He will be ready to fight for the title in both series. I'm expecting him to be a front runner this season and I hope we will be at the front this weekend.

"Kamui's test pace was not surprising, he's naturally super fast. GP2 is not an easy series and he was a rookie this year, sometimes with no luck."

Kobayashi's main opposition in the Asia series is likely to come from countryman and former grand prix driver Sakon Yamamoto (ART), Formula Renault 3.5 champion Giedo van der Garde (iSport), GP2 race winners Vitaly Petrov (Campos), Javier Villa (Super Nova), Luca Filippi (BCN) and Andi Zuber (FMS).

Late additions to the grid include Formula Master champion Chris van der Drift (Trident) and British F3 race winner Sergio Perez (Campos), while F3 Euro Series champion Nico Hulkenberg is expected to contest part of the series with ART.