The GP2 action returns this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps after a well-deserved and well-needed summer break. All eyes will focus on Series leader and local hero Stoffel Vandoorne who will have at heart to please his home crowd. The McLaren F1 tester has been chasing after a fifth win this season since Round 5 at Silverstone. He came close to it at Budapest last month, but he was denied by his teammate and had to settle for second place in the sprint race.
Two rookies stole everybody’s thunder in Hungary, starting with Alex Lynn: the Williams F1 tester grabbed his first GP2 pole position and followed this great result with his maiden feature race win. On the following day, it was Honda protégé Nobuharu Matsushita who took a lights to flag victory ahead of his teammate Vandoorne. The Belgian ace still left the Hungaroring with a comfortable 85 point lead over title rival Rio Haryanto who enjoyed another strong race weekend. It was a round to forget though for Alexander Rossi who for the first time this season failed to score points in Hungary, but he will undoubtedly work hard this week to rebound in style.
The seventh round of the 2015 season takes place at one of the most challenging, demanding and longest circuits on the calendar: Spa-Francorchamps. The wide variety of high-speed corners mixed with long and fast straights makes it a unique layout. The uncertainty of the weather always provides drama too. The drivers will have at their disposal P Zero hard and soft compounds.
There will be three driver changes starting with Oliver Rowland who rejoins MP Motorsport whilst Gustav Malja will debut in the Series at the wheel of the #12 Trident car in replacement of Rene Binder who is suffering from a streptococcus infection. Sergio Canamasas returns to Daiko Team Lazarus to stand in for a still recovering Zoel Amberg. Finally, Hilmer Motorsport will enter just one driver (Nick Yelloly in car #24).
Warm Up // Julian Leal
“Spa-Francorchamps is an amazing track. If you ask the drivers which is their favourite circuit, Spa will be at the top of the list. It’s very challenging of course. When you think of Spa-Francorchamps, you think of Eau Rouge. You have to be flat-out there… It is a very fast and long track. There are a lot of overtaking opportunities: after Eau Rouge, on the main straight and on the back straight. If you have the right speed, you can have a lot of fun.
“If you are quick in free practice, you should be getting a good result in qualifying. You have to focus to be flat-out through Eau Rouge and to maximise the potential of your tyres. You have to warm them up well. The tyre degradation is not too bad because there are a lot of straights so the tyres have the time to cool down.”
Season Stats 4 Number of rookies who have won a race this season out of 6 race winners (Lynn, Stanaway, Sirotkin, Matsushita).5 Number of drivers who have raced all 370 laps of the season so far (Lynn, Vandoorne, Rossi, Sirotkin and Visoiu).25.75 Average points scored per round in the past four events by Sergey Sirotkin.7 Front row starts for ART Grand Prix this season so far (5 Vandoorne, 2 Matsushita).
Noteworthy
There will be three driver changes this week: Oliver Rowland rejoins MP Motorsport in car #16 whilst Swede Gustav Malja will debut in the Series at the wheel of the #12 Trident car in replacement of Rene Binder. At Lazarus, Sergio Canamasas will replace Zoel Amberg who is still unfit to drive.
Hilmer Motorsport will not enter a driver on car #25.
Gustav Malja is the second Swedish driver to ever race in GP2 Series.
No Belgian driver has ever won a GP2 race at Spa-Francorchamps.
