Alberto Valerio (Piquet GP) and Pastor Maldonado (ART Grand Prix) both secured race wins in the fourth round of the Bridgestone-supported GP2 Series at Silverstone, using Bridgestones medium specification racing slick. Known as one of the fastest circuits currently in Formula One, Silverstone offers GP2 drivers the opportunity to experience the high-speed Copse corner and section through Maggotts, whilst also demanding a car set- up and driving style that can optimise tyre performance during the slow complex in the last sector. In Saturdays action packed 36 lap feature race, Brazilian driver Valerio took his maiden GP2 victory having started from second on the grid behind Romain Grosjean (Barwa Addax Team). Lucas di Grassi (Fat Burner Racing Engineering) finished second, with Nico Hulkenberg from ART Grand Prix crossing the line in third, also adding a point for fastest lap to his championship tally. Bridgestones tyre degradation has been lower than expected and less compared to last year, suggesting teams have adapted their car set-up well to manage the medium compound. Sundays 24 lap sprint race was won by Venezuelan driver Maldonado, his second sprint race win of the season. Andreas Zuber (FMSI) and Karun Chandhok (Ocean Racing Technology) finished second and third, with Maldonado being awarded fastest lap. Grosjean takes back the lead of the drivers championship on 40 points, ahead of team-mate Vitaly Petrov on 33. Maldonado is in third with 26 points. Barwa Addax Team leads the teams championship with 73 points from ART Grand Prix on 52. Fat Burner Racing Engineering is in third position with 24. The fifth round of the GP2 Series will be held at the Nurburgring on July 11-12, this time on Bridgestones soft compound GP2 racing slick. Quote from Hirohide Hamashima – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development The GP2 teams have done a good job in studying last years data from Silverstone, and as a result we had a very entertaining feature race in GP2. They have been using the same compound as last year and the level of degradation has been reasonable, certainly less than 2008 and reducing over the weekend too. The lower degradation could be due to improved car set-up and the drivers recognising how to maintain their tyres and, of course, circuit improvement due to good weather conditions. Well done to Alberto Valerio on his first GP2 win and to Pastor Maldonado on his second victory this season. Overall we have seen an improvement in lap times this weekend compared to last year, and we are pleased with the performance of the medium compound at Silverstone.
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