19/08/2009
NEWS STORY
The seventh round of the Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series will take place at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, on 21-23 August. Valencia's modern street circuit makes its second ever appearance on the GP2 calendar, and offers drivers the chance to work with the soft tyre for the third time this season.
Bridgestone has made a change from 2008 when the medium specification tyre was brought to Valencia, the soft compound being allocated for this year's event.
With warm weather and high track temperatures expected during the race weekend, drivers will need to anticipate how their car set-up can be adjusted to ensure effective management of tyre degradation.
In 2008, Campos stole the limelight in GP2 at Valencia's street circuit during its Formula One debut event, as team-mates Vitaly Petrov and Lucas di Grassi both won races here.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: "Valencia is a very high speed street course, with drivers experiencing the highest speeds after the bridge in the second sector. It is much faster than Monaco and due to the hard braking required in Valencia the drivers need to be careful not to flat spot the tyres. In addition, being a street circuit, high levels of concentration and car control are essential as there is not much room for driver error. It can also be difficult to overtake, with the best chance being at turn twelve. Degradation is expected to be fairly high due to the hot weather and high track temperatures anticipated."