Schedule:Thursday 29th September: Free Practice 15.15 – 15.45Friday 30th September: Qualifying: 16.50 – 17.20Saturday 1st October Race 1: 10.30 – 11.10Sunday 2nd October Race 2: 10.05 – 10.35
Race 1: 19 laps, 105.317 km // 40 minutesRace 2: 17 laps, 77.602 km // 30 minutes
Warm Up: Akash Nandy (Jenzer Motorsport)
"Sepang is my favourite circuit in the world! It will be so much fun to drive a GP3 car around here. The track is really wide so there’s lot of space for overtaking. There are a lot of high speed corners: Turns 5, 6, 12 and 13 with most of the corners being really long; so I think we will have quite a lot of tyre degradation. The heat is also a big factor for the tyres too of course. Although the track has been re-surfaced, I think it will be quite similar to how the Red Bull Ring was. I drove the track a few months ago and it was smooth.
"I think it’s a race the fans will really enjoy as there’s so many overtaking opportunities with the long straights; the main straight and the back straight are quite similar to Monza in that regard. There are some hard-braking corners too. My favourite corner is Turn 14; you come out of a high speed corner and you can’t really attack under braking as you’re still turning which makes it so hard. The most important part is making a good exit out of that corner as you’re on the main straight after that. It’s a rewarding feeling when you get it right. I will imagine it rain at least once or twice over the weekend. I think it’s a good change of scenery for the teams and drivers to go to a brand new venue and another track outside of Europe."
THE STAKES
The GP3 Series makes its maiden visit to the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for Round 8 of the Series. The Malaysian track marks the first of two exciting flyaway events for the category as GP3 gets into gear for the penultimate round of the season.
With just two rounds to go all eyes are on the intense battle for the coveted GP3 crown with ART Grand Prix’s Charles Leclerc in pole position for honours. The Monegasque driver holds a 24 point advantage over Trident’s Antonio Fuoco and 32 points over his teammate Alexander Albon.
Scuderia Ferrari Team Development driver Leclerc started from pole position in Round 7 but it was Jake Dennis who passed the Series leader to record his maiden victory in the campaign. The Briton led home an Arden one-two with teammate Jack Aitken, with the duo perfecting their tyre management skills. On Sunday, Nyck de Vries romped to his first win after an incredible run of consistency, with teammate Albon in second.
ART Grand Prix impressively secured their sixth GP3 teams’ title in Monza but there is fierce competition for second place in the standings.
The Sepang International Circuit will be a new challenge for almost all of the GP3 drivers: as will the humidity and forecast of thunderstorms daily. There is also a twist to the schedule this weekend with Free Practice taking place on Thursday, Qualifying on Friday and the races on Saturday and Sunday.
Pirelli have nominated the Hard compound for this event.
Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola said: “Sepang will be a new challenge for most of the young drivers in GP3. In addition to learning the circuit, the heat and humidity will test them, and they will also have to think about how they manage their tyres because the track places such significant demands on them. To allow for this we have nominated the hard in GP3, but good tyre management will still be an important key to success as usual, while the threat of rain could also mix things up. It’s going to be very interesting to see the effect of the new surface on the track, which will make the free practice sessions particularly important.”
Season stats
21 The number of drivers to have scored points this season.
13 Nyck de Vries has scored points in 13 out of 14 races this year – the only race he has failed to score points in was Budapest Race 2.
3 The number of times the ART Grand Prix quartet have all finished within the top ten of Race 1.
7 The number of rookies in the top ten in the drivers’ standings.
Noteworthy:
18 year old Italian Alessio Lorandi joins Jenzer Motorsport and will make his debut in Malaysia.
Koiranen GP will run with two drivers only in Sepang: Matthew Parry and Matevos Isaakyan.
Nirei Fukuzumi has a three place grid penalty applied to Sepang Race 1 after a collision with Charles Leclerc in Monza Race 2.
ART Grand Prix clinched their sixth team title from seven attempts in Monza Race 1.
Arden International’s Jake Dennis secured his maiden win of his rookie year in the opening race at Monza.
McLaren protégé Nyck de Vries achieved his first win of his rookie season in Monza’s Race 2.
Series leader Leclerc holds a 24 points advantage over Antonio Fuoco and 32 points over Alexander Albon in third.
The battle is on for second place in the teams’ standings – 40 points cover three teams: Arden International (187), Trident (165) and Koiranen GP (137).
