Data (GMT+2)Thursday:Free Practice: 12.00 – 12.45 Qualifying Group A: 16.15 – 16.31 Qualifying Group B: 16.39 – 16.55
Friday:Feature Race: 11.15 (42 laps)Saturday:Sprint Race: 16.10 (30 laps)
Warm Up // Arthur Pic – Rapax
“Monte Carlo is always a special round for me because it is close to where I live. My parents and my family usually come to support me so it feels like a home event. I love driving on this track, especially when it is dry. As it is tricky, twisty and narrow, you need to be confident and feel comfortable in the car.“Qualifying is different here than at other rounds: we all know it is really hard to overtake, so the goal is to qualify on the front row. The key is to be the quickest of your group and then hope that your qualifying group is the faster than the other!“Regarding the tyre degradation, it is not the main issue of the weekend. We still have to pay attention to the tyres but it is manageable. If you want to win in Monte Carlo, you need to go as close as possible to the walls and that takes bravery. After a disappointing opening round of the season, I really want to fight for the win this week.”
The StakesThe opening round of the 2016 GP2 season, which took place at Barcelona two weeks ago, went off with a flying start. The Feature race was won by Racing Engineering driver Norman Nato: the Frenchman took the lead from fellow countryman Pierre Gasly in the final stages. He then kept Nicholas Latifi at bay until the chequered flag. On the following day, Alex Lynn won the sprint race for the second consecutive year, ahead of Gasly and Jordan King.It was a weekend of firsts: a maiden victory and podium finish for Norman Nato; a first rostrum for Latifi, and two podiums in a row for newcomers PREMA Racing. At the end of the race weekend, Red Bull protégé Gasly topped the drivers’ standings with 33 points ahead of Nato and Lynn.The legendary Circuit de Monaco hosts the second round of the season. The tight nature of the track means that it takes skills and courage to bring your car home. If qualifying is key on a circuit where it is near impossible to overtake, then tyre strategy will also be crucial. Pirelli have selected Soft and Supersoft compounds for this round where tyre wear is low.This week, the free practice and the qualifying sessions will take place on Thursday, with qualifying divided into two groups of sixteen minutes each. The Feature race will take place on Friday at 11.15 (GMT+2) whilst the Sprint race will take place on Saturday at 16.10 (GMT+2).There will be no driver changes for this round.
Season Stats33 Points scored by Pierre Gasly in Round 1.23 Number of laps led by Alex Lynn in Barcelona Sprint race.80 Number of podiums achieved by Racing Engineering since the beginning of the GP2 Series.6 Gasly leads Norman Nato by 6 points in the drivers’ standings.
NoteworthyThere will be no driver change for Round 2.On Friday, it will be the 20th time the GP2 Series have raced on the streets of Monte Carlo since 2005.Four drivers on the current grid have achieved a podium in Monte Carlo in GP2: Sergio Canamasas (2 podiums: 2014 sprint race and 2015 feature race), Mitch Evans (3 podiums: 2013 feature and sprint races, 2014 feature race), Raffaele Marciello (2015 sprint race), Sergey Sirotkin (2015 sprint race).In 2015, Alexander Rossi qualified on pole position with a laptime of 1:37.019.There will be two groups for the qualifying session: odd and even numbered cars. The ballot will take place during the drivers’ briefing on Wednesday 25th.
The Feature race will run over 140km whilst the Sprint race will run over 100km.
