Bridgestone Motorsport’s GP2 Series Report

29 August, 2010 - Belgium, Spa Francorchamps – Round 8

Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) and Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) both claimed victories at Spa Francorchamps on Bridgestone’s medium compound dry tyre. Maldonado took his sixth consecutive feature race win.

With  rain  throughout  the  Friday  practice  and  qualifying  sessions, Bridgestone’s wet specification GP2 tyre was used by all the teams and performed as expected under the varying conditions.

Saturday’s  25  lap  feature  race  included  interesting  pit  stops  from  the  Scuderia  Coloni  and  Rapax  teams. Maldonado’s  well  timed  pit  stop  allowed  him  to  leave  the  pit  lane  ahead  of  race  leader  and  pole  sitter Jerome  d’Ambrosio  (DAMS)  who  also  pitted  on  lap  eight,  to  change  rear  tyres.  Despite  d’Ambrosio  then taking  the  position  back  from  the  Venezuelan,  mechanical  problems  caused  the  Belgian  driver  to  retire.Alvaro  Parente  (Scuderia  Coloni),  making  a  return  to  GP2,  pitted  on  lap  22,  finishing  a  close  second  to Maldonado  despite  having  started  sixteenth  on  the  grid.  Romain  Grosjean  (DAMS)  finished  third  and Parente was awarded the point for fastest lap.

In Sunday’s 18 lap sprint race, Mexican driver Perez overtook Rodolfo Gonzalez (Arden International) on the opening lap, retaining his lead throughout. Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax Team) crossed the line in second place, with Parente completing the podium line-up. Perez set the quickest lap.

Maldonado leads the drivers’ championship with 87 points. Perez is in second place on 60 and Dani Clos (Racing  Engineering)  is  third  on  43  points.  Rapax  is  ahead  in  the  teams’  championship  with  107  points, followed by Barwa Addax Team on 87 and ART Grand Prix in third with 65.

The  penultimate  round  of  the  2010  GP2  Series  will  be  held  in  Monza  on  10-12  September,  where Bridgestone will be providing teams with the hard compound GP2 racing slick tyres.

Quote from Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development;
“Saturday’s GP2 feature race was very entertaining. There was an effective pit stop strategy from Scuderia Coloni’s Alvaro Parente, as they pitted later in the race, and an excellent pit stop from Rapax which enabled Pastor Maldonado to exit the pits ahead of previous race leader Jerome d’Ambrosio. With d’Ambrosio then having overtaken Maldonado on-track, it was unfortunate that d’Ambrosio was forced to retire especially as he  is  the  local  Belgian  driver.  We  have  seen  good  overtaking  this  weekend  in  both  races.  The  podium finishers in the sprint race all fought for their positions and managed their tyres well. We are pleased with the performance of both the slick and wet GP2 tyres here at Spa.”