PREMA Racing's pair dominated Round 8 in Spa-Francorchamps last week. Second fastest in Free Practice, Pierre Gasly went on to win his third Feature Race of the year adding enough points to his tally to become a clear leader with 146 points. On Sunday, it was rookie Antonio Giovinazzi who controlled the rest of the pack from third on the grid. With this third victory, the Italian ace moved up to second in the standings and closed the gap to his teammate to only 17 points. With only three rounds left in the 2016 GP2 Series season, the battle for the crown has intensified with the Red Bull protégé on a mission to take his first title.

RUSSIAN TIME's Raffaele Marciello still lies third in the drivers' standings after two flawless drives on the Belgian track. So far, the Italian has scored in every single race bar Baku Sprint race, but he is still missing a first win this season. He will surely be one to watch this weekend on
home soil in Monza. It was a weekend to forget for Sergey Sirotkin: a joint Series leader before summer break, the Renault F1 Tester started Round 8 in fine form with P1 in Free Practice. However, the ART Grand Prix man struggled for pace in Qualifying and then finished ninth in the
Feature Race from P13 on the grid. The following day, Sirotkin received a 10s time penalty after an aggressive move on the final lap which caused a collision. Another time penalty was added to his elapsed time after it was found he had used DRS on lap 1. With only 2 points scored in Spa, the Russian driver has dropped to fourth in the standings, but fortunately, he won't have too long to dwell on his disappointment as
the paddock sets up camp in Monza this weekend for the ninth round of the season.

The Autodromo di Monza is another legendary track known best for its high speed. It will be a special event for rookies Giovinazzi and Luca Ghiotto but also for Marciello of course who will do their best to shine in front of their home crowd. Pirelli has selected Medium and Soft compounds for the high-energy demands on the tyres caused by fast corners, long straights and heavy braking.

Mario Isola, Pirelli Racing Manager: "The Monza weekend is always a special one for us, taking place close to our home in Milan. By nominating the medium and soft tyres for GP2, we have gone one step softer than last year in the Series. This should make tyre management an important factor for the drivers to consider, and create close racing at a circuit where the long straights and heavy braking zones present good opportunities for overtaking. In GP2, the nature of the circuit will open up different possibilities for strategy."

Notes

The Sprint Race on Sunday will be the 250th race of the GP2 Series.

Four rookies have achieved a podium so far (Marvin Kirchhöfer, Antonio Giovinazzi, Luca Ghiotto, Gustav Malja).

Gustav Malja became the 17th driver to have scored a podium this season.

Except for Baku Sprint Race, Raffaele Marciello is the only driver on the grid to have scored points in every single race this season. Hence, although he's not claimed a win yet, the Italian driver is lying third in the standings just 9 points behind Giovinazzi.

Drivers Standings before Italy

Pos	Name	Nat	Team	Points
1	Gasly	FRA	Prema Racing	146
2	Giovinazzi	ITA	Prema Racing	129
3	Marciello	ITA	Russian Time	120
4	Sirotkin	RUS	ART Grand Prix	115
5	Rowland	GBR	MP Motorsport	101
6	King	GBR	Racing Engineering	100
7	Lynn	GBR	DAMS	91
8	Nato	FRA	Racing Engineering	81
9	Ghiotto	ITA	Trident	80
10	Evans	NZL	Pertamina Campos Racing	77
11	Markelov	RUS	Russian Time	77
12	Matsushita	JPN	ART Grand Prix	58
13	Pic	FRA	Rapax	36
14	Malja	SWE	Rapax	28
15	Gelael	INO	Pertamina Campos Racing	24
16	Latifi	CAN	DAMS	21
17	Kirchhofer	GER	Carlin	20
18	Canamasas	GBR	Carlin	14
19	Eriksson	SWE	Arden International	10
20	de Jong	NED	MP Motorsport	6
21	Jeffri	MAS	Arden International	2

Team standings before Italy

Pos	Team	Points
1	Prema Racing	275
2	Russian Time	197
3	Racing Engineering	181
4	ART Grand Prix	173
5	DAMS	112
6	MP Motorsport	107
7	Pertamina Campos Racing	101
8	Trident	80
9	Rapax	64
10	Carlin	34
11	Arden International	12