19/05/2008
NEWS STORY
The Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series heads to the fabulous millionaires' playground of Monte Carlo for its third round, where Bridgestone's super soft compound will be used on the slippery streets of Monaco. There will be double the opportunity for today's budding F1 stars to excel as unlike previous seasons, this year two races will take place in support of the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23-24.
Given the slippery nature of the 3.34km street course in Monaco, Bridgestone's super soft compound Potenza slick racing tyre will be used, for the only time this season. Drivers and teams will therefore have to be on top of their game to master this tyre on the new GP2 / 08 car at this difficult track which is lined with potentially car breaking Armco barriers.
High downforce levels are required at Monaco, and mechanical tyre grip is also relied upon due to the numerous slow speed corners. Because mistakes are punished hard by the barriers, there are often safety car periods during races meaning that team tyre stop strategists will have to work just as hard behind the pit wall as the drivers are working behind the wheel.
In 2007, Pastor Maldonado (Trident Racing) took the race win after starting from pole position, finishing over eight seconds ahead of Giorgio Pantano (Campos Grand Prix). Timo Glock (iSport) finished third.
Heading to Monaco, Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) leads the drivers' championship on 24 points, from Romain Grosjean (ART) on 19. Sebastien Buemi is in third place with 14 points. The teams' championship is led by Racing Engineering with 27 points, from ART on 19. iSport are in third position with 16 points.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: For the GP2 Series race at Monte Carlo Bridgestone will be supplying our super soft tyre and this will be the only time this compound is used all year. This is the same tyre we used last year, but we have renamed it from soft to more accurately reflect its grip characteristics. At Monte Carlo it is very difficult for drivers to overtake, so qualifying is important as the drivers need to start from a strong position on the grid to have a good chance of getting a good result. This season there are two races so drivers will have to be very focused over the weekend. Driver concentration is essential as the circuit is known for its limited amount of run off area.