GP2: Germany preview

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

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Published: 28/07/2016
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