Arthur Pic claimed his first podium finish of the 2015 GP2 Series campaign at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend (August 21-23) with second place in a dramatic Feature Race at the Belgian Grand Prix venue.
Following a tricky qualifying session where he struggled with pace, Pic lined up 14th for the start of Saturday’s Feature Race under the Belgian sun. A very strong start from the Frenchman saw him make up seven places in the opening laps behind the wheel of his soft-shod Campos Racing machine.
By lap five, Pic had made good progress when a clash between Daniel de Jong and Pierre Gasly resulted in a huge impact for the Dutchman at the high-speed Blanchimont turn. At this early stage of the race, those on soft tyres had the opportunity to switch onto hards under the Safety Car while the leaders were prompted to change to the softer option tyre and come up with a new strategy in order to reach the end of the 21-lap contest.
The race was consequently red-flagged while the marshals repaired damage to the barriers. At the restart Pic got past his Campos Racing team-mate Rio Haryanato, who was called in for a stop go penalty, for P9. From there, it was only a matter of time before the soft tyres went off and the front-runners began to tumble down the order.
Indeed, for the remainder of the race, Arthur pushed to pass as many drivers as possible while keeping his rivals at bay before crossing the line in second behind championship leader and McLaren-Honda test and development driver Stoffel Vandoorne.
The partially reversed grid Sprint Race saw Pic start Sunday morning’s race seventh, but a poor start meant that he had conceded five positions by the second lap.
While the 23-year-old battled with oversteer throughout, he managed to cling on to P12 before a spin on lap 13 brought his race to a premature end.
“The car was really difficult to drive today,” commented Pic shortly afterwards. “Then with a few laps to go, I lost grip on my tyres and ended up in the gravel. It was a race to forget!
“On the whole I’ve had a good weekend, though,” he continued. “Qualifying was tough, but then I had a strong start in the Feature Race and our strategy came through when the race was red-flagged. It’s my first podium this year and a great result for the team so I’m really pleased.
“We’re at Monza next, which is a track that I really like to drive so I’m looking forward to it. We were fast last year so hopefully we can continue to push and try for another good result.”
The GP2 Series resumes on September 4-6 at the ultra-fast Italian Grand Prix venue for round eight of the championship.
