Piquet: I expect to be quick.

Nelson Piquet Jr is heading into the inaugural GP2 Series campaign in confident mood. Buoyed by his pace in pre-season testing, the Brazilian admits that he is expecting to be at the front at most, if not all, of the races too.

Speaking to Crash.net shortly after the series' official launch at Paul Ricard, Piquet, who steps up from Formula Three this season, said that there was no reason to expect his race weekend performance to differ greatly from those put in during testing.

"Maybe, because we've been quick in testing, everyone is going to expect us to be quick in the races - but I expect myself to be in the races as well!" he commented, "There can be no excuses."

Facing drivers who have 'stayed on' in the F1 feeder series during the transition from F3000 to GP2, and others who have transferred from the parallel Nissan World Series, Piquet will have to adjust to the differences between his F3 Dallara and the new single-make GP2 car from the same Italian supplier. Confident as ever, he doesn't see the jump as being that big.

"Actually, it wasn't that difficult," he insists, "I think the F1 tests I did, and the FNissan tests I did, all helped a little, and, when I got in the GP2 car, I didn't have that much of a shock. For some of the others, who hadn't driven an F1 car, it would have been quite difficult, whereas I was quite comfortable from the first time I drove the GP2."

Despite his confidence, however, Piquet is aware that a host of unknowns face him, team-mate Alexandre Negrao and the Hitech Piquet Sports team put together over the winter to run the GP2 effort.

"I know it's going to be difficult, because we don't know the circuits - I have never been there, my team-mate has never been there," he confirmed, "It's going to be a bit crazy, getting half an hour of testing and then going straight into qualifying. The car is going to make a big difference - if we can go into testing with something close to the ideal set-up, then I don't think we'll have a big problem, but, if we go to the circuit and the car isn't great - and we don't know the circuit as well - then things become complicated.

"There are several teams from F3000 who have been there before, they know how the circuit is, they know its characteristics - so, for them, it's less of a shock because they are only getting there with a different car."

Asked who he expected his rivals to be, the Brazilian said that it was hard to pinpoint individuals because the new GP2 format didn't necessarily favour any group of drivers every time out.

"I know now who the quick drivers are, the teams that are doing quite well, but, in this kind of racing, it is not only the quick drivers that are going to be 'quick'. We don't have testing on Fridays - it's more of a warm-up then straight into qualifying - and that's something that will make a difference between the drivers. There will be drivers who don't get used to the circuits too quickly, or don't know it before they go there, and drivers who aren't necessarily quick but know the circuits well - it's going to make a difference. For example, Scott Speed is a very quick driver, but let's see what his experience is like..."