19/20/21 Nov
Qualifying 14.20 – 14.50Feature Race (32 laps) 15.30Sprint Race (23 laps) 10.45
Alexander Rossi (Racing Engineering)“It’s a track that we are all very familiar with, but at the same time it’s one that’s very tricky. It is fairly long and tyre management there is quite critical: we saw earlier this season that it had a big outcome on the results of the race. As we’ve all been there before, we know what to expect so I think the competition will be close. It will be a very tightly fought race. We will use what we can from the last time we raced there and try and improve. Hopefully, we will get that win that was so nearly missed out on.
“Qualifying will be all about one lap, really. We need to put all our eggs into one basket and really go for it. After that, there are lots of overtaking opportunities. I quite like it there! I think you can pass in about five places… Only two of them are DRS Zones. The rest of them are a secret!
“I’ve jumped from GP2 to F1, then back to GP2 and again to F1. At the end of the day, I think GP2 prepares you incredibly well for F1. There are a lot of very similar things with obviously the tyres being the biggest component. Having them being so similar makes it a lot easier. I don’t think the transition is too much. I’m really looking forward to this weekend.”
The StakesThe action resumes this weekend at Bahrain International Circuit for the penultimate round of the 2015 GP2 season. All eyes will be on newly crowned Stoffel Vandoorne whose mission will be to help ART Grand Prix pocket their own title. But he will not be the only one fighting tooth and nail this weekend as Alexander Rossi (fresh from his latest F1 stint) will be battling to keep his closest rivals at bay.
The American had arrived at Sochi last month with the goal to maintain his title hopes, but even his feature race win could not stop Vandoorne’s path to glory. Now Rossi has to look into his mirrors as Rio Haryanto and Sergey Sirotkin aim at finishing the season on a high. The Indonesian’s good form returned in Russia after two pointless rounds, and Haryanto was able to retake third place in the standings from Sirotkin. It was a slightly more challenging weekend for the rookie from Rapax who failed to score in the Sprint Race.
After a break, the paddock has set up camp in the Middle East for the final two rounds of the campaign. First up: Sakhir, a track known for its high level of asphalt roughness and where tyre management is crucial. Pirelli have selected the Medium and Soft compounds for this week, with the event running from Thursday to Saturday alongside the 6 hours of Bahrain.
Pirelli Quote“We come back to a venue that ourselves and the team know very well, in Bahrain, both through testing and racing, earlier this year. So although this weekend was a relatively late addition to the GP2 calendar, everyone is still very well-prepared due to the previous data we have collected here. We can expect quite a high degree of track evolution in the first sessions and also high temperatures. However, with the season coming towards an end and the drivers benefitting from previous experience, their tyre management skills should ensure that they get the best out of their allocation this weekend.”
Season Stats43.5 Alexander Rossi’s points advantage over Rio Haryanto in the drivers’ standings.5 Rio Haryanto’s points advantage over Sergey Sirotkin in the drivers’ standings.3 The number of drivers that can still hope to finish second in this year’s drivers’ standings.112.5 Points advantage of ART Grand Prix over Racing Engineering in the teams’ standings.
NoteworthyThere will be 3 driver changes this weekend:- Daniel De Jong returns to GP2 after his accident in Spa in August. He will join Trident in car #12.- Gustav Malja replaces an injured Robert Visoiu at Rapax in car #19.- Oliver Rowland joins Status Grand Prix in replacement of Richie Stanaway in car #23.The race weekend will run from Thursday to Saturday alongside the 6 Hours of Bahrain.This is the second visit of the season to the Bahrain International Circuit as the 2015 campaign opened at the same track back in April.Fun with figures7 Number of podiums scored by Alexander Rossi this season so far.3 Number of consecutive rounds in which Rio Haryanto failed to score a podium before Sochi. It’s also the number of consecutive rounds in which Sergey Sirotkin has failed to score a podium.1 Number of front row starts this season for Rossi, Haryanto and Sirotkin, with the American and the Russian drivers’ achieving 1 pole position each.67 Number of laps led this season by Haryanto (8 more than Rossi).
