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Thursday, 19 July 2012 17:09 |
 The latest round of the GP2 Series driver entry list and fact sheet - July is a busy month for the GP2 Series drivers.
Two weeks ago at a rain hit Silverstone, Luiz Razia claimed back control of the Series after another strong weekend in Great Britain which saw the mighty Brazilian collect yet another win, that’s four this season.
Davide Valsecchi did well to recover from a disastrous qualifying result in style with a podium finish in the Sprint Race but it was simply not enough to keep the lead and stop Razia from shining.
Both men will be ones to watch again this weekend in Germany as they will battle on track for more points and ultimate glory, unless Esteban Gutiérrez swoops in and steals the show.
The Mexican has pocketed two Feature Race wins back to back and will definitely be hoping for a hat trick, but he has been handed a place grid position penalty for this weekend and will have to fight even harder.
This week marks the return of GP2 to Hockenheim. It will be the first time that Caterham Racing and Carlin will race on that track with the Series, but it will also be the first time that all drivers will race on Pirelli tyres at Hockenheimring.
The German circuit is not especially aggressive on tyres and the most important thing is to have compounds that are adaptable to a wide range of conditions, especially given the fact that weather conditions in the local area can be changeable at this time of year.
There is not expected to be a very large variation in performance between the two compounds selected (Medium and Soft) under equal conditions, so it will be vital for the teams to understand fully the performance and degradation data to plan an effective strategy.
The extra set of soft tyres should give them the additional running to capture all the information they need.
Johnny Cecotto
“I’ve always liked the Hockenheim circuit very much. I’ve had lots of podium finishes in Formula 3. The track has a lot of fast bends and important braking points and I think our car should go very well around here. We still have a lot of work to do concerning the new tyre norms that were introduced before the Siverstone race. The problem was we were driving all weekend in England with wet weather tyres and we couldn’t work with all the tyres available to us. We are well prepared for all eventualities, dry conditions or wet and I’m really looking forward to getting back to competing on this circuit after two years.”
Josef Kral
“I am looking forward to Hockenheim a lot because most of the time I was on this track I was on podium. I like the circuit and also there is always lot of fans who make really good atmosphere of this race. We worked hard on the simulator as well so I believe that we are well prepared and now we need some good luck on our side”.
Nigel Melker
"I think that we are able to repeat the same type of race and results as at Silverstone. My goal is always to do better, but I don't want to raise the bar too high. Getting into the points is the main objective, doing better would be a bonus."
Victor Guerin
"It was intense and very important training. Nothing can be left to chance at this level. I don't know the Hockenheim circuit, but I think that it will be easier to learn than the previous one and the weather conditions appear to be better. My goal is to find the same pace as in Monaco, when I was among the fastest in the race."
Rodolfo Gonzalez
“I have had a busy few weeks now! Since before the Silverstone weekend I have been on the road, at the factory with the team and at Pro Performance for training, but I feel good and excited about the races ahead. I was in France on Tuesday for an aero test with Caterham F1 Team which went really well and now after two difficult GP2 race weekends in Valencia and Silverstone I hope our luck can turn here in Germany. I quite like this track. There are long straights and the last section of the circuit requires good aerodynamics. It will be interesting to drive here this year with the GP2 aero package we have and hopefully it will stay dry, especially for qualifying. My focus is on driving with discipline and concentration and limit my expectations, but I am feeling good and I hope we can have a positive weekend.”
Giedo van der Garde
“Hockenheim is quite a nice track. It is small but the last part is very technical so I am looking forward to driving here. My preparation has been going well and I’m feeling physically ready for what’s to come. I have been on the simulator and working hard on my fitness so I’m all set. We had a good meeting in the factory last week, going through why Silverstone didn’t go to plan and we analysed and discussed everything and the outcome was very positive. You have got to take the good with the bad and make sure these situations do not happen again and now it is a new weekend with new opportunities so we have got to make sure we have a good qualifying with strong races to follow. The most important thing is to get up there in the points. It has been a while since we were on the podium so that has to be the aim and I am feeling confident we can do that here.”
Mario Isola - Pirelli racing manager
“Hockenheim will be a new experience for us with GP2 and we need to keep an open mind as to what to expect, particularly in terms of weather conditions. The German circuit does not make any particular demands on the compound and structure in a specific area, but instead there are quite a wide range of different parameters that are tested.
"Traction is certainly a key issue, because of all the slow to medium speed corners, but the tyres also have to withstand sustained high speed on the long straights and heavy braking. After the weather in Silverstone meant that the GP2 drivers were not able to take advantage of the new tyre regulations, it will be very interesting to see what they can do in Germany.”
Drivers swap:
| Driver |
Car N° |
Team |
Replaced by |
| Daniel De Jong |
21 |
Rapax |
Tom Dillmann |
| Fabrizio Crestani |
18 |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
Sergio Canamasas |
Germany Fact Sheet:
- Info Pirelli: Prime – Medium // Option – Soft
- In a change to the regulations, three sets of “prime” specification and two sets of “option” specification will be allocated to each driver before the start of the free practice session. Once used in free practice, one set of “prime” specification must be returned to Pirelli before the start of the qualifying practice session. As such, each driver will still have four sets - two sets of Primes and two sets of Options - to use freely during qualifying, Feature Race and Sprint Race.
- Race 1: 38 laps (excluding formation lap)
- Lap Length: 4.574 km
- Race Distance: 173.812 km
- Race 2: 27 laps (excluding Formulation lap)
- Race Distance: 123.498 km
- Esteban Gutiérrez and James Calado (Lotus GP) will be dropped ten places each on Saturday’s starting grid following a penalty picked up in Silverstone Sprint Race.
- Hockenheim 2010 results:
Pole position: Charles Pic (Arden International)
Feature Race: Pastor Maldonado (Rapax), Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team), Charles Pic (Arden International)
Sprint Race: Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team), Oliver Turvey (iSport International), Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing)
- 2011 Pole position: 1'41.638
Onboard cameras:
| Driver |
Team |
Car N°: |
| Davide Valsecchi |
DAMS |
03 |
| Fabio Leimer |
Racing Engineering |
05 |
| Marcus Ericsson |
iSport International |
07 |
| Simon Trummer |
Arden International |
22 |
Driver entry list:
| N° |
Driver |
Nat. |
Team |
| 1 |
Johnny Cecotto |
VEN |
Barwa Addax Team |
| 2 |
Josef Kral |
CZE |
Barwa Addax Team |
| 3 |
Davide Valsecchi |
ITA |
DAMS |
| 4 |
Felipe Nasr |
BRA |
DAMS |
| 5 |
Fabio Leimer |
SUI |
Racing Engineering |
| 6 |
Nathanaël Berthon |
FRA |
Racing Engineering |
| 7 |
Marcus Ericsson |
SWE |
iSport International |
| 8 |
Jolyon Palmer |
GBR |
iSport International |
| 9 |
James Calado |
GBR |
Lotus GP |
| 10 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
MEX |
Lotus GP |
| 11 |
Rodolfo Gonzalez |
VEN |
Caterham Racing |
| 12 |
Giedo Van der Garde |
NED |
Caterham Racing |
| 14 |
Stefano Coletti |
MON |
Scuderia Coloni |
| 15 |
Fabio Onidi |
ITA |
Scuderia Coloni |
| 16 |
Stephane Richelmi |
MON |
Trident Racing |
| 17 |
Julian Leal |
COL |
Trident Racing |
| 18 |
Sergio Canamasas |
ESP |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
| 19 |
Giancarlo Serenelli |
VEN |
Venezuela GP Lazarus |
| 20 |
Ricardo Teixeira |
POR |
Rapax |
| 21 |
Tom Dillmann |
FRA |
Rapax |
| 22 |
Simon Trummer |
SUI |
Arden International |
| 23 |
Luiz Razia |
BRA |
Arden International |
| 24 |
Victor Guerin |
BRA |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 25 |
Nigel Melker |
NED |
Ocean Racing Technology |
| 26 |
Max Chilton |
GBR |
Carlin |
| 27 |
Rio Haryanto |
INA |
Carlin |
2012 GP2 Germany - Weekend Schedule
Friday 20th July
12h00 Practice
15h50 Qualifying
17h40 Press Conference
Saturday 21st July
15h25 Pit Lane opens
15h30 Pit Lane closes - Grid
15h40 Race Start
18h00 Press Conference
Sunday 22nd July
10h20 Pit Lane opens
10h25 Pit Lane closes - Grid
10h35 Race Start
F1SA.com
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