The 2009 GP2 season kicks off this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, and the rubbish news is that Setanta has the UK TV rights – along with three other championships.

No GP2 on Freeview is a disappointment, and will put a dent in the recognition of the series. Eurosport would have been an acceptable home, and A1GP has survived on Sky Sports, but Setanta is surely borderline useless.

Plus, having lost some of its football rights, the finances and future of Setanta are now very much in question anyway. The broadcaster’s motorsport portfolio of GP2, Superleague Formula, DTM and the FIA GT Championship isn’t going to do much to reverse its fortunes.

So why does the BBC not have GP2? Well, the only official line I’ve seen came from the BBC’s Interactive TV Editor, Matt Millington:

“Unfortunately, we are unable to offer coverage of the support races.”

That suggests there isn’t room on the BBC Red Button to fit in GP2 and so on. Curious that there is, however, room on the BBC Red Button for 125cc and 250cc qualifying sessions and races during MotoGP weekends. Perhaps a British hope in GP2 might have helped.

Talking of MotoGP support races though, details of Moto2, which replaces 250cc from next year, are coming thick and fast. Well, Honda is supplying the bike for the one-make series. Given that the bike manufacturers are the top teams in 250cc at the moment, I’m not sure what the championship is going to look like.

As if GP2 and Moto2 aren’t confusing enough, we’ll have GP3 from next year too. It’ll run along side GP2 at Formula 1 races.

Meanwhile there’s Formula Two at WTCC meetings, but Robert Wickens is ducking out of most Formula Two races in favour of the Formula 3 Euro Series – which supports the DTM.

It’s all very confusing.