The GP2 paddock set up camp this week in Baku, Azerbaijan for the third round of the 2016 season. It is the first trip to this venue for the Series which will be racing alongside Formula One once again.

Three weeks ago, Monte Carlo was the scene of two epic races. It was Artem Markelov who came out victorious of the Feature Race after having started P15 on the grid. The RUSSIAN TIME ace made his way up to second behind race leader Norman Nato who looked set for a second win this season. But Markelov elected to pit last and managed to re-join ahead of a disheartened Nato. The following day, Nobuharu Matsushita started from reverse pole and flew to the Sprint Race win, 13 seconds ahead of rookie Marvin Kirchhofer.

Nato left the Principality as the new Series' leader, one point ahead of Markelov. Up next is Baku, a new track which could hold a few surprises for teams and drivers alike. Although the drivers have been training on simulators and the engineers have been studying every detail of the layout, it will not be until free practice that they will be able to collect and analyse real data.

Street circuits are often low in grip with considerable track evolution, and that will be particularly true in Baku where the asphalt surface has only recently been laid. Pirelli have selected Medium and Supersoft tyres for this event. More than ever, strategy will be key during the feature
race with a reasonably high performance gap between the two compounds.

Marvin Kirchhofer is the first rookie this season to have achieved a podium finish (Monte Carlo Sprint Race). He is also currently the highest
ranked rookie in the drivers' standings (9th with 18 points).

Seven teams have scored a podium so far (ART Grand Prix, Racing Engineering, DAMS, RUSSIAN TIME, Carlin, PREMA Racing and MP Motorsport).

Only four drivers have succeeded in scoring points in every single race so far (Artem Markelov, Alex Lynn, Raffaele Marciello and Oliver Rowland).

Mario Isola, Pirelli Racing Manager: It's good to have GP2 racing as part of the inaugural grand prix in Baku, allowing the young drivers involved to discover new territories. With low grip and high track evolution expected, as well as quite high temperatures, the new street circuit will provide quite a challenge to the teams in terms of understanding the tyre behaviour. Extracting the most from the tyres in qualifying will be important to a good result, as will selecting the best strategy for the race. Above all, it will be a question of adapting to this new set of circumstances as quickly as possible, rewarding the GP2 teams and drivers who are able to think on their feet.

Drivers Standings

Pos	Name	Nat	Team	Points
1	Nato	FRA	Racing Engineering	49
2	Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	48
3	Lynn	GBR	DAMS	41
4	Gasly	FRA	Prema Racing	33
5	Marciello	ITA	Russian Time	28
6	Rowland	GBR	MP Motorsport	22
7	Matsushita	JPN	ART Grand Prix	22
8	Latifi	CAN	DAMS	20
9	Evans	NZL	Pertamina Campos Racing	18
10	Kirchhofer	GER	Carlin	18
11	King	GBR	Racing Engineering	16
12	Canamasas	GBR	Carlin	10
13	Sirotkin	RUS	ART Grand Prix	4
14	Malja	SWE	Rapax	2
15	de Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	2
16	Pic	FRA	Rapax	1

Team Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1	Russian Time	76
2	Racing Engineering	65
3	DAMS	61
4	Prema Racing	33
5	Carlin	28
6	ART Grand Prix	26
7	MP Motorsport	24
8	Pertamina Campos Racing	18
9	Rapax	3