The eighth round of the Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series will be held at Spa Francorchamps as part of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Belgium's circuit at Spa, renowned for its elevation changes at Eau Rouge, will host two important races for GP2 as the top contenders push to gain valuable points on Bridgestone's soft tyre before heading onto the penultimate round of the year in Monza.

Inline with Bridgestone's one step softer strategy for this season, the soft compound GP2 racing slick will be used here rather than the medium specification tyre that was allocated for this circuit in 2008.

Spa presents many challenges, with the weather being known for its unpredictability due to the unique Ardennes location. This will be a major influencing factor on pit stop strategies for the Saturday feature race and often it can rain on just one part of the circuit making tyre selection a crucial decision for the teams.

In 2008, race winners Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) and Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) proved to be the rain masters. In qualifying, Karun Chandhok out qualified his iSport International team-mate Bruno Senna on the last lap of the session but due to a penalty from the previous race weekend started from eleventh on the grid for race one.

Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: "Spa Francorchamps is a high speed circuit and offers many different types of corners in terms of speed and elevation. Due to the fast nature of the track, tyre durability and pressures are very important factors in terms of safety with tyre pressures needing to be slightly higher than at other circuits in order to provide stability in the high speed corners. Drivers are also required to manage the front right hand tyres well, as turn ten is a quick left hand corner which puts a heavy load on the front right of the car. The famous Eau Rouge is a demanding part of the track which tests car setup, driver skill and tyre performance, and for overtaking turn five is best at the end of Kemmel Straight. In Spa, the weather is changeable and conditions at the track can vary from one end of the circuit to the other. With a softer tyre at Spa this year and because of the abrasive track surface combined with the lower temperatures, this could cause some graining which is an extra challenge for the drivers as they need to try and keep the heat in the tyres."