The GP2 calendar will support F1 races at the Bahrain, Malaysian and Singapore Grands Prix in 2012.

With the GP2 Asia series ending this year, the main GP2 series will add four Asian races to its schedule. Three of these will support F1 races, plus an additional round will be held in Bahrain the week after the F1 race.

The series will be making its debut at Singapore. GP2 cars last raced at Sepang in 2009 as part of the GP2 Asia series.

GP2 will continue to support all the European rounds of the F1 championship. The total number of races will increase from 18 to 24.

GP2 Series CEO Bruno Michel said: “GP2 being the natural and logical path to Formula 1, it is imperative that our calendar carries as many F1 tracks as possible including tracks outside Europe which is why we added Bahrain, Sepang and Singapore this season. However, the series has also to remain affordable, therefore we did not want to add more overseas circuits.

“Racing on eleven F1 tracks in 2012 with a car close to F1 in performance and using the same tyres, GP2 drivers will gain as much experience as possible which will enable them to be immediately competitive in the next category as previously demonstrated by all our graduates. We have also made sure that we remain affordable by working together with our partners in order to keep down freight and spare parts costs.

“I am glad that we will be going back to Kuala Lumpur: we?������ve seen during the Asia Series some very exciting races there. It is a splendid venue to open a new chapter of our Series which includes new sporting regulations.

“We?������ve always raced in Bahrain since the inception of our Series ?����ǣ Nico Rosberg won both races in 2005. We will close our season in Singapore. It will be the first time ever that our Series goes there. It is very exciting!”

Here is the 2012 GP2 calendar in full:

Round Race Circuit Date 1 Malaysia Sepang International Circuit March 23rd-25th 2 Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit April 20th-22nd 3 Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit April 26th-28th 4 Spain Circuit de Catalunya May 11-13th 5 Monaco Monte-Carlo May 24-26th 6 Europe Valencia June 22nd-24th 7 Britain Silverstone July 6-8th 8 Germany Hockenheimring July 20th-22nd 9 Hungary Hungaroring July 27-29th 10 Belgium Spa-Francorchamps August 31st-September 2nd 11 Italy Monza September 7-9th 12 Singapore Marina Bay September 21st-23rd

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