GP2 officially renamed Formula Two by FIA

The FIA have confirmed that the GP2 series will be known once again as Formula Two from the 2017 season onward.

The second World Motor Sport Council of the year was held in Geneva and the name switch was made official when the minutes from the meeting were published on the FIA website.

“The World Motor Sport Council approved the creation of the FIA Formula Two Championship for 2017 onwards,” the FIA announced in a statement.

“The FIA reached an agreement with the Formula One Group regarding the transition of the GP2 Series to FIA Formula 2, and the series will support the FIA Formula One World Championship in all but one of the dates.”

The Formula Two series will support Formula One at  the Bahrain, Spanish, Monaco, Azerbaijan, Austrian, British, Hungarian, Belgian, Italian and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix this year, with the standalone event coming to Jerez in the penultimate round of the season.

“Rationalising the pathway to Formula One has been a major goal of the FIA in my time here and the designation of a new F2 would achieve that goal,” said FIA president Jean Todt in a recent interview for the governing body’s Auto magazine.

“Obviously we are in an early phase of involvement in this championship but I think there is a lot of scope for development.”