SERIES ROUND 6 PREVIEW: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Data (GMT+2)Friday Free Practice: 12.00 Qualifying session: 15.55SaturdayFeature Race: 15.40SundaySprint Race: 10.25
Warm Up With Luca Ghiotto – Trident “I think it’s one of the hottest tracks on the GP2 Series calendar. The track itself is quite challenging because there are a lot of corners with only one straight and there are no breaks. It is just one corner after another corner and you can never rest. It’s probably one of the most technical circuits.
“There are not many possibilities to overtake outside of the DRS zones. The track is really tight and there is no place between the corners. The only way to pass another driver is if they make a mistake. And we all know that in the GP2 Series, drivers don’t do many mistakes. The tyre degradation is quite manageable although you can’t do many laps on the Soft compounds. Last year, when I raced in GP3 Series on the Hungaroring, I did my best laptime with only three laps to go which was quite late in the race.“I won on this very track last year with GP3. This year, my goal for this round will be at least to fight with the top five, maybe score a podium. I dream about a win in GP2 Series but I think to claim a podium is reasonable. We will do everything with the team to go for it and I will do my best as always to bring some strong points home.”
The StakesThe fifth round of the 2016 season was one to remember as Pierre Gasly scored his maiden GP2 win whilst PREMA Racing pocketed another 1-2 podium in the Feature Race with Antonio Giovinazzi taking second place. The Italian squad has been consistent since Baku where Giovinazzi pocketed his first GP2 wins and PREMA Racing their maiden 1-2 rostrum. They are now top the Teams’ standings and will most definitely be looking for a repeat of their good form this weekend at the Hungaroring.The 2016 GP2 Series season is one of the most thrilling as for the fifth time since the start of the season; there is a new Series leader. With 25 points added to his tally during last weekend in Silverstone and two podium finishes’, Oliver Rowland now heads the Drivers’ standings with 79 points, just one point ahead of Giovinazzi and 5 points ahead of Gasly. Meanwhile, rookie Luca Ghiotto scored his first podium finish in GP2 as Jordan King won for the second time in a row the Sprint Race.
Round 6 will take place this week at the twisty Hungaroring: because this layout is really demanding, there is little opportunity to rest for the drivers and the cars. The high temperatures should also add another level of difficulty for tyre management with Pirelli having selected Hard and Soft compounds for this event.
Season Stats1 In the Drivers’ standings, Oliver Rowland leads Antonio Giovinazzi by 1 point.27 Highest number of points scored by a driver in Round 5 (Pierre Gasly: 25 points – Feature Race, 2 points – Sprint Race).5 Number of different Series leader’s this season after each round (Pierre Gasly – Barcelona, Norman Nato – Monte Carlo, Artem Markelov – Baku, Raffaele Marciello – Spielberg, Oliver Rowland – Silverstone).58 Most laps led this season achieved by a driver (Norman Nato).
NoteworthySeries leader Oliver Rowland leads the Drivers’ standings with 79 points but the Briton has yet to win a race.
King, Marciello and Giovinazzi have achieved the same number of podium finishes (3) this season.
PREMA Racing have moved up to first in Teams’ standings with 152 points, 23 points ahead of Racing Engineering and 25 points ahead of RUSSIAN TIME.
Fifteen drivers have scored a podium this season. Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland has achieved the most podium finishes so far (4).
