25/05/2016
NEWS STORY
The opening round of the 2016 GP2 season, which took place at Barcelona two weeks ago, went off with a flying start.
The Feature race was won by Racing Engineering driver Norman Nato: the Frenchman took the lead from fellow countryman Pierre Gasly in the final stages. He then kept Nicholas Latifi at bay until the chequered flag. On the following day, Alex Lynn won the sprint race for the second consecutive year, ahead of Gasly and Jordan King.
It was a weekend of firsts: a maiden victory and podium finish for Norman Nato; a first rostrum for Latifi, and two podiums in a row for newcomers PREMA Racing. At the end of the race weekend, Red Bull protégé Gasly topped the drivers' standings with 33 points ahead of Nato and Lynn.
The legendary Circuit de Monaco hosts the second round of the season. The tight nature of the track means that it takes skills and courage to bring your car home.
If qualifying is key on a circuit where it is near impossible to overtake, then tyre strategy will also be crucial. Pirelli have selected Soft and Supersoft compounds for this round where tyre wear is low.
This week, the free practice and the qualifying sessions will take place on Thursday, with qualifying divided into two groups of sixteen minutes each. The Feature race will take place on Friday at 11.15 (GMT+2) whilst the Sprint race will take place on Saturday at 16.10 (GMT+2).
There are no driver changes for this round.
"In Monaco there is very little room for error," says Pirelli's Racing Manager, Mario Isola, "and there are also not a lot of opportunities for overtaking. Finding speed in qualifying is therefore important, but not easy with such short sessions when mistakes can be costly. If qualifying
doesn't go to plan, tyre strategy still creates possibilities for progress to be made, particularly in the feature race where the right strategy can help a driver find clear track and vault up the order.
"Stoffel Vandoorne was rewarded for a good strategy and fast pit stop when he won from fourth on the grid in 2015 – which proves that a place on the front row of the grid isn't essential for victory. With the soft and supersoft in use, tyre management is also important and can help to create some very close racing."
2016 it will be the 20th time the GP2 series has raced on the streets of Monte Carlo since 2005.
Four drivers on the current grid have achieved a podium in Monte Carlo in GP2: Sergio Canamasas (2 podiums: 2014 sprint race and 2015 feature race), Mitch Evans (3 podiums: 2013 feature and sprint races, 2014 feature race), Raffaele Marciello (2015 sprint race), Sergey Sirotkin (2015 sprint race).
In 2015, Alexander Rossi qualified on pole with a laptime of 1:37.019.
There will be two groups for the qualifying session: odd and even numbered cars. The ballot will take place during the drivers' briefing on Wednesday 25th.