23/04/2008
NEWS STORY
The Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series will start its exciting fourth season with an all-new car for the 13 teams and 26 drivers from around the world who will participate in the first round of the eleven round championship, as part of the Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica on April 25-27.
Bridgestone continues its involvement with the Series, which it has supported since its inauguration, and will bring the hardest compound GP2 Series slick tyre to the gruelling Circuit de Catalunya located 20km to the north east of Barcelona.
The new GP2 / 08 car will provide a challenge for all competitors as they will have to work hard to find the best set-up to harness the potential of Bridgestone's tyres. As all drivers have the same chassis, engines and tyres, getting the tyres to work at their best will be key to a good result and Bridgestone's tyre engineers will be on hand to assist the teams and drivers in reaching this goal.
The 4.66 km circuit can be characterised as one that is harsh on tyres. High loads are experienced, particularly in turn three, and those tyres on the left hand side of the car are put under a lot of stress. Bridgestone brings an average of 760 tyres to each round, and these include both wet and dry weather Potenza tyres.
In 2007, Bruno Senna (Arden) and Timo Glock (iSport) both won races in Barcelona. Whilst Glock went on to win the championship and now races in Formula One for the Panasonic Toyota Racing Team, Senna returns to the scene of his first GP2 Series victory, this season driving for reigning champions, iSport.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: "This will be the first race with the new generation GP2 Series cars so it will be very interesting to see how quickly teams and drivers come to terms with the task. Barcelona is quite a severe circuit so we bring our hardest compound Potenza GP2 slick tyre. This tyre is designed for use on the most punishing circuits and we only use it in Barcelona and in Istanbul. Braking stability is important in Barcelona and it is very important to get good car balance in the slow speed corners. This weekend will be a challenge for teams and drivers alike and I expect we will see some exciting racing as 26 drivers try to stake their claim on an F1 drive for next year."