After a four week break, the action resumes this week as the GP2 paddock sets up camp at the Sochi Autodrom for the ninth round of the 2015 season.

All eyes will be on Series leader Stoffel Vandoorne and his closest rival Alexander Rossi: the American will have to stop the Belgian driver from scoring six points more than him on Saturday (including possible pole position) in order to keep his title hopes alive. It will be a difficult task as Vandoorne has always scored more points than Rossi in every round this season except for Silverstone.

However, fresh off his Formula One debut with Manor Marussia F1 Team the American should arrive in Russia with a confidence boost. Add to that, his feature race win ahead of Vandoorne in Monza last round which should put him in an optimistic mood. The title drama should not overshadow the rest of the pack starting with Mitch Evans whose pace and results in Italy prove he should fight at the front again in Russia.

It is the second time that the Series visits the Sochi Autodrom where we saw the smallest pole margin ever last season (+ 0.000 between Vandoorne and Arthur Pic) and where last year's title was won by Jolyon Palmer. The Russian track is the third longest on the calendar and contains a wide variety of mostly medium speed corners, providing many overtaking opportunities. Pirelli have selected Medium and Soft tyres for this round.

Mario Isola, Pirelli: "As Russia was a brand new circuit last year we didn't have much real circuit information. Now that we have some real data from the race last year, we've been able to fine-tune the nomination to match the specific demands of the track. Although it was brand new last year, the track surface has not evolved over the winter, so we're expecting low wear and degradation once more. Also, the circuit has not been used much since last year, and this is one of the main reasons why the surface is not very different. The weather is generally quite mild, which should help to reduce the effects of thermal degradation, but there is the possibility of unexpectedly hot weather too. While the surface is in no way abrasive, a number of drivers were surprised last year by the amount of grip available."

GP2 Media Office

Current Driver Standings

Pos	Name	Nat	Team	Points
1	Vandoorne	BEL	ART Grand Prix	261
2	Rossi	USA	Racing Engineering	153
3	Sirotkin	RUS	Rapax	115
4	Haryanto	INA	Campos Racing	109
5	Lynn	GBR	DAMS	88
6	Evans	NZL	Russian Time	87
7	Gasly	FRA	DAMS	65
8	Marciello	ITA	Trident	60
9	Pic	FRA	Campos Racing	57
10	Matsushita	JPN	ART Grand Prix	48
11	Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	47
12	King	GBR	Racing Engineering	46
13	Stanaway	NZL	Status Grand Prix	42
14	Leal	COL	Carlin	38
15	Canamasas	ESP	Hilmer Motorsport	27
16	Berthon	FRA	Daiko Team Lazarus	24
17	Visoiu	ROU	Rapax	20
18	Nato	FRA	Arden International	20
19	Yelloly	GBR	Hilmer Motorsport	19
20	Rowland	GBR	MP Motorsport	3
21	Negrao	BRA	Arden International	3
22	Binder	AUT	Trident	2
23	De Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	1
24	Malja	SWE	Trident	1

Current Team Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1	ART Grand Prix	309
2	Racing Engineering	199
3	Campos Racing	166
4	DAMS	153
5	Rapax	135
6	Russian Time	134
7	Trident	61
8	Status Grand Prix	42
9	Carlin	38
10	MP Motorsport	29
11	Daiko Team Lazarus	28
12	Arden International	23
13	Hilmer motorsport	19