Evans pumped up for GP2

Mitch Evans is aiming for a winning start. Photo/Sam Bloxham, GP2Media

Kiwi driver has high hopes of taking title with his Russian team

Runners and riders in the GP2 championship are making their way to Yas Marina in the UAE for the first of two three-day test sessions. The second hitout is three weeks later at Sakhir, Bahrain, at the beginning of April before the first race of the 11-round championship.

New Zealand's Mitch Evans has confirmed he will again be in a Russian Time car alongside last year's teammate, Artem Markelov.

"It wasn't really the plan to do a third year, but it's just the way the circumstances at the end of last year dictated what would happen," Evans said.

"We were pushing for other things that unfortunately didn't work out so it didn't leave much time to talk to other teams.

"But we had a good time with Russian Time last year and I'm hoping to go one better and win the title this year."

When Evans joined last year the team were in a quandary due to the death of team principal Igor Mazepa. He'd taken over the iSport GP2 entry and won the teams championship in the previous year, and at the last minute the decision-makers asked iSport to come back and engineer the cars.

Evans got off to a stuttering start but finished with a hiss and a roar to clinch fourth place in the title race. The Aucklander faces another challenge this year as there have again been changes at the team.

"Engineering-wise it's all new, which is a bit of a concern. All the mechanics are the same, so that's good, but I'm not sure how the engineering side might work out.

"We're testing soon so I'll have a better idea. At least we'll have data from 2014, unlike last year where we had absolutely nothing to look back on. It made things tricky trying to be quick early in the season.

"Hopefully we can get on top of things quickly this year and be competitive from the start of the season and get podiums in the first couple of races."

Although the championship doesn't start until mid-April at Sakhir, testing is vital as the 2015 cars will be running a drag reduction system (DRS) similar to Formula One cars.

To make GP2 closer to F1, organisers have introduced a moveable part of the rear wing that reduces drag at certain parts of the track to assist overtaking.

GP2 suppliers Pirelli will again introduce a new tyre. Reports from testing late last year hint it could shave almost a second off lap times.

Evans picks the DRS will affect brakes, ride height and downforce levels.

"We have to work all those influences into our baseline settings and that's what testing is all about," he said.

"It is the same for everyone, but some teams will get on top of it faster than others.

"There's only six days of testing. It may sound like a lot but it goes pretty quickly and you're limited with the amount of tyres you can use, so the sooner you can get on top of it the faster you can start tuning the car.

"We want to be able to get everything sorted during testing so we can hit the ground running at the first race."