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A busy weekend for GP2 in Austria

The fourth round of the 2014 season will take place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

Rene Binder

Rene Binder

GP2 Media Service

The action resumes this weekend for the GP2 Series field. The fourth round of the 2014 season will take place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It is a new venue for the organizers and the teams which should make this week’s results even harder to predict.

Last round in Monte Carlo, it was all yellow with both DAMS cars snatching pole position, reverse pole and the two wins. Series leader Jolyon Palmer has extended his already impressive lead to 46 points on Felipe Nasr. The Briton is the only driver this season to have scored points in every single race leaving only crumbs to his rivals. Nasr on the other hand has managed to recover superbly from a bad qualifying to take third in the feature race and salvage what could have been a disastrous weekend for the title contender.

And now comes Spielberg and its challenges: although the drivers and the teams have had four weeks to prepare for this event, working on simulators and trying to find the perfect setup, only the reality of the track will reveal if they’ve made the right decisions. Pirelli have selected the Medium tyres for the primes and the soft tyres for the options.

Pirelli’s racing manager Mario Isola says: “It should be a busy weekend for us. That work is intensified because nobody really knows what to expect from this circuit. As a result, free practice will become even more crucial than usual, as the teams will have to ensure that they collect enough data to be sure of working out the best race and qualifying strategies before Saturday. The weather can be a very big variable in Austria, so if conditions are unrepresentative during Friday, this could interrupt their plans. For GP2 this will be the first experience of the medium.”

Rene Binder - Arden International: “I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Austria was on the GP2 calendar this season. It will be my home race and I’m really looking forward to driving here this weekend. I’ve only raced once at the Red Bull Ring before, but it’s not a very difficult track to learn: it is quite short, but there are a few technical corners. There are three fast corners and then some slower ones. The asphalt is smooth so this will most likely help with tyre management.

“Regarding overtaking opportunities, I’m sure we will see a few. The main straight is not very long, but following turns 1 and 2, there is a much longer straight. It will be the perfect place to try a manoeuvre there. I’m sure we’ll see two very interesting races this weekend!”

Friday 20th June 2014
12:00 - 12:45 Free Practice Session
15:55 - 16:25 Qualifying Session
17:35 Press Conference

Saturday 21st June 2014
15:25 Pitlane opened
15:30 Pitlane closed - Grid
15:40 Race 1 Feature Race Start (40 laps / 60 mins.)
18:05 Press Conference

Sunday 22nd June 2014
10:20 Pitlane opened
10:25 Pitlane closed - Grid
10:35 Race 2 - Sprint Race Start (28 laps / 45 mins.)

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