28/07/2016
NEWS STORY
The busy month of July ends this weekend with the GP2 paddock setting up at Hockenheim for the seventh round of the season. With last week's pole position and win in the Feature Race under his belt; Pierre Gasly is now the new Series leader.
The Frenchman has been consistent since the start of the season and seems on a mission to fly to his first GP2 crown. But his main rival is none other than his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. The rookie has had been very reliable and has had a strong GP2 season so far only failing to score points in the first two rounds.
Since then, the PREMA Racing driver has pocketed two wins and he is frequently in the top 5. Both of them will also have to keep an eye on Raffaele Marciello. The Italian is the only driver to have scored points in eleven races out of twelve but has yet to win a race.
Behind this consistent top three, we have the MP Motorsport's Oliver Rowland who has finished on the podium and the Racing Engineering pair who are eager to repeat their top form from the past few rounds and be at the top of the standings. 27 points covers the top five from Gasly to Jordan King. Without forgetting our 2014 Hockenheim race winner Mitch Evans who is now seventh in the drivers' standings and is ready to repeat his winning weekend from two years ago.
Pirelli have selected Medium and Soft compounds for this event. It will be important to look after the tyres as there is lots of acceleration out of the slow corners. The track surface in Hockenheim is quite smooth which helps to limit wear and degradation but braking will be a key aspect. The tyres are subject to maximum deceleration.
Last time, the GP2 Series raced in Hockenheim was in 2014. At that time, Mitch Evans (RUSSIAN TIME) won the Feature Race and Stefano Coletti (Racing Engineering) the Sprint Race.
In 2014, The best laptime in qualifying was set by Jolyon Palmer (DAMS) in a 1:23.383.
There will be one driver change this week as Rene Binder moves to Carlin to replace Sergio Canamasas.
After he won the Budapest Feature Race, Pierre Gasly (PREMA Racing) is now leading the Series with 107 points, 11 points ahead of his
teammate Antonio Giovinazzi.
Pierre Gasly is the second driver to win a race this season from pole position (the first one was Antonio Giovinazzi in Baku Feature Race).
GP2 Media
Drivers Standings after Hungary
| Pos | Name | Nat | Team | Points |
| 1 | Gasly | FRA | Prema Racing | 107 |
| 2 | Giovinazzi | ITA | Prema Racing | 96 |
| 3 | Marciello | ITA | Russian Time | 85 |
| 4 | Rowland | GBR | MP Motorsport | 83 |
| 5 | Nato | FRA | Racing Engineering | 81 |
| 6 | King | GBR | Racing Engineering | 80 |
| 7 | Evans | NZL | Pertamina Campos Racing | 77 |
| 8 | Sirotkin | RUS | ART Grand Prix | 70 |
| 9 | Markelov | RUS | Russian Time | 65 |
| 10 | Matsushita | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 56 |
| 11 | Lynn | GBR | DAMS | 51 |
| 12 | Ghiotto | ITA | Trident | 38 |
| 13 | Gelael | INO | Pertamina Campos Racing | 24 |
| 14 | Latifi | CAN | DAMS | 21 |
| 15 | Kirchhofer | GER | Carlin | 19 |
| 16 | Canamasas | GBR | Carlin | 14 |
| 17 | Pic | FRA | Rapax | 14 |
| 18 | Eriksson | SWE | Arden International | 10 |
| 19 | de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | 6 |
| 20 | Malja | SWE | Rapax | 3 |
| 21 | Jeffri | MAS | Arden International | 2 |
Team standings after Hungary
| Pos | Team | Points |
| 1 | Prema Racing | 203 |
| 2 | Racing Engineering | 161 |
| 3 | Russian Time | 150 |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 126 |
| 5 | Pertamina Campos Racing | 101 |
| 6 | MP Motorsport | 89 |
| 7 | DAMS | 72 |
| 8 | Trident | 38 |
| 9 | Carlin | 33 |
| 10 | Rapax | 17 |
| 11 | Arden International | 12 |