14/02/2008
NEWS STORY
After a pair of thrilling opening races in Dubai three weeks ago, which saw ART Grand Prix driver and ING Renault F1 Team Test Driver Romain Grosjean clinch a remarkable double victory, Bridgestone Motorsport heads to the Indonesian circuit of Sentul this week for the second of the five round GP2 Asia Series. As the official sole supplier of tyres to the Series, Bridgestone has shipped approximately 640 dry and wet weather Bridgestone Potenza GP2 tyres to the track from its Technical Centre in Kodaira City, Japan.
Run as part of the Grand Racing weekend series, GP2 Asia features no fewer than 26 drivers from 18 different countries and after the sandy and unusually cool conditions presented to them in Dubai, they will face quite different challenges at Sentul's 4.12km track. The warm climate should enable the drivers to get the heat into their slick dry tyres more quickly but the high humidity levels and likelihood of rain could see Bridgestone's wet weather tyres make an appearance, adding further potential for excitement in terms of team strategies.
The drivers are permitted to use four sets of dry tyres and two sets of wet weather tyres for the race weekend which includes one 30-minute practice session, a 30-minute qualifying and two races: one 46-lap feature race with a compulsory pitstop and a shorter 31-lap sprint race.
The driver line up for this weekend has changed since the Dubai round with official Renault Development Driver, Briton Ben Hanley, taking Car 6 for the Barwa International Campos Team and Brazilian Diego Nunes driving Car 23 for DPR.
What can the GP2 Asia drivers expect from Bridgestone's tyres this week?
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: With the warmer climatic conditions expected at Sentul we anticipate that the drivers will get their hard compound tyres heated up more quickly than at the last round in Dubai. This in turn should enable them to try several different car set-up options even within the relatively short time of 30 minutes allocated for practice. With regards tyre wear for this weekend, we expect it to be manageable but the track surface is quite rough so we will monitor it closely.
Stats & Facts for Indonesia
No. of dry tyres shipped: Approx. 420 tyres (Hard spec)
No. of wet tyres shipped: Approx. 220 tyres
No. of dry sets permitted per driver: 4 sets
No. of wet sets permitted per driver: 2 sets