24/05/2008
NEWS STORY
Bruno Senna (iSport International) and Mike Conway (Trident Racing) both took race wins in the third round of the Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series on the twisty streets of Monte Carlo in Monaco. The European GP2 Series now has six different winning drivers and teams from the first three rounds.
Brazilian driver Senna celebrated a well deserved and poignant win in Friday's feature race following in the footsteps of his late uncle, six-time Monaco winner, Ayrton Senna. British driver Conway led Saturday's sprint race throughout, taking his first ever victory in the GP2 Series, Trident Racing taking a one-two finish.
Bridgestone's super soft compound Potenza GP2 racing slick made its only appearance of the season at this challenging street course. The slippery and twisty nature of the track meant grip was at a premium and the barriers were on hand to punish even the tiniest mistake.
In Friday's 45 lap race, pole sitter Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) made a slow start whilst Senna, from second on the grid, took the lead into turn one and maintained his position to claim his second ever GP2 Series race win. Maldonado finished 0.6 seconds behind Senna, with Senna's iSport team-mate Karun Chandhok finishing in third for his first podium of this year's European series. The point for fastest lap was claimed by Senna on lap 38 after battling with Maldonado to set the fastest time. Produced in Rome, Bridgestone's GP2 tyres performed well and, according to data from Bridgestone engineers, all drivers could have completed the full race distance on one set of tyres.
Conway started Saturday's 30 lap sprint race from first on the grid, leading from the start, and after the early safety car pulled away from Trident team-mate Ho-Pin Tung finishing 18.4 seconds ahead. Alvaro Parente (Super Nova) took third place and although Andreas Zuber set the fastest lap from the back of the field the point goes to Conway for setting the fastest time within the top ten finishers.
Leaving Monaco, Senna leads the drivers' championship on 24 points joint with Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering) also on 24. Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) is in third position on 19 points joint with Parente. iSport International leads the teams' championship with 35 points from Racing Engineering on 27. Piquet Sports are in third place on 25. The next round of the GP2 Series will be held in four weeks time at Magny Cours, on 21-22 June, using Bridgestone's medium compound which is the specification for all further GP2 races this season.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: Congratulations to Bruno Senna for a great result on Friday which was due to a good start and a consistent drive. It is very difficult for drivers to keep their concentration here in Monaco during the long race but Senna showed great concentration. The lap times at the end of the session were very good and the top two drivers kept beating each other to the fastest lap, proving that the super soft compound was the correct tyre choice for this circuit. Congratulations also to Mike Conway on his first GP2 win on Saturday which he achieved by a good margin. Despite cooler temperatures tyre performance remained strong, although some drivers drove too aggressively for this punishing track.