Round DataRace 1 - 14 lapsRace 1 - 14 lapsPirelli tyre: Soft
THE STAKES
The glorious setting of the Yas Marina Circuit hosts the mouth-watering GP3 finale of the 2014 season. Carlin and Red Bull Junior Team driver Alex Lynn has one hand on the elusive GP3 trophy with a 48 point lead in the Drivers’ Standings. Koiranen GP’s Dean Stoneman is the only driver who can mathematically prevent Lynn from becoming the fifth GP3 champion: if he scores the maximum points on offer over the weekend and Lynn fails to score – setting up a dramatic conclusion in Abu Dhabi.
There is huge competition amongst the drivers to finish within the top three in the standings too with Stoneman, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Jimmy Eriksson and Richie Stanaway all hungry for silverware. Carlin are also hoping to wrap up their first teams’ champion’s trophy after leading the standings from the opening round. But ART Grand Prix are hot on their tails, the French squad has won the teams’ trophy for four consecutive years and will want to make it five in a row – so it’s all to play for!
In a change in schedule – practice and qualifying will both take place on a Friday. Pirelli have nominated the soft tyre for this event.
WARM UP with Dino Zamparelli:
Firstly, Abu Dhabi is a really nice place to go because it’s always really hot (and you get a great tan) – he said with a big smile. The racing itself is really cool, last year we had a night race but this time GP2 will get that honour. It was so special to race under the lights at such a cool venue. The track is really modern, I really enjoyed it last season. The track is really fun to drive, really long and flowing. There are some opportunities to overtake, especially on the long back straight. It’s very challenging for the drivers which I like. We could push quite hard on tyres last year but it depends how hard you go on set-up.
STATS
4 – Dean Stoneman has recorded the most wins in GP3 this season7: Alex Lynn has achieved the most rostrums of the season30: The margin that Carlin leads ART GP in the Teams’ Standings47: The points’ difference between Lynn in first and Stoneman in second
NOTEWORTHY
The best rookie is Alex Lynn (Carlin) who leads the Series on 185 points.Carlin leads the Teams’ Standings after Round 8 on 303 points, over ART Grand Prix on 273 and Status Grand Prix on 233.There have been 8 different winners from 14 races (Alex Lynn, Dean Stoneman, Emil Bernstorff, Jimmy Eriksson, Richie Stanaway, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Jann Mardenborough and Patric Niederhauser.)Marussia Manor Racing will not participate in this eventThere are several driver changes this weekend: Ryan Cullen is back in the GP3 field, racing the #24 at Trident and rookie Kang Ling from China will drive the #23 Trident.Alex Lynn needs just one point to take the GP3 Driver’s crown. Stoneman is the only other driver who can stop him and would need to score the maximum points of 48 with Lynn failing to score to become the title winner.In a change in schedule – practice and qualifying will both take place on FridayYou can re-watch every round with the video highlights on the official website // Multimedia Section THE TIMETABLE
Friday 21st November
10.00 – 10.45 Free Practice
15.10 – 15.40 Qualifying
Saturday 22nd November
11.55 Pit Lane Opens – Grid
12.00 Pit Lane Closes - Grid
12.05 Race 1 Start
Sunday 23rd November
12.50 Pit Lane Opens – Grid
12.55 Pit Lane Closes – Grid
13.00 Race 2 Start
