Saturday, September 13, 2008

GP2 drivers to race on Valencia streets

GP2 drivers to race on Valencia streets

Nine current GP2 racers will enter this weekend's GT races on the Valencia street circuit to learn the track ahead of the Formula One feeder series rounds at the new venue next month.

Championship leader Giorgio Pantano (Racing Engineering), Trident Racing pairing Mike Conway and Ho-Pin Tung, Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) and Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) will all drive Dodge Vipers.

GP2 race winner Luca Filippi (Arden) will drive an Aston Martin DBRS9, while Javier Villa (Racing Engineering) and Vitaly Petrov (Campos Racing) will share a Ferrari 430 GTS and Roldan Rodriguez (FMS) will drive a GT2 Ferrari 430GT.

"It should be a lot of fun, although the serious business is to learn the track," Conway told this week's Autosport. "I bet the regulars (GT drivers) are worried about us coming, it'll probably be a bit mad in the early laps. But it's important to keep the car in one piece so we can maximise our track time."

Maldonado said: "Although it's a street track, it's going to be a lot faster than somewhere like Monaco. It looks like it will be a real challenge."

His co-driver for next weekend, d'Ambrosio, added: "It will be strange that Pastor will be my teammate rather than my rival. If we all get together I think it'll be like a kart race, only with bumpers."

The GP2 drivers have been banned from competing in the Spanish Formula 3 rounds on the street circuit on the same weekend, but Super Nova's Andi Zuber will drive in the free practice sessions, believing that track time to be more valuable than GT races.

"This means I get an hour and three quarters of free practice time in a single-seater, that's like a week of going around in a GT car," he said.



  • GP2 drivers to race on Valencia streets
  • No comments: