Racing Engineering and its drivers are ready to challenge for the podium again 30.06.2016: ....at the Red Bull Ring. GP2 Series Round 4 This weekend sees round four of the 2016 GP2 Series take place

....at the Red Bull Ring.




GP2 Series Round 4



This weekend sees round four of the 2016 GP2 Series take place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.


The last round, held on the Baku Street Circuit, in Azerbaijan, was disappointing for the Racing Engineering team with just a fourth place for Jordan King.


Although their other driver, Norman Nato, did not add to his points tally he is still in second position in the Drivers’ Championship just five points behind the leader and both he and Jordan will be looking to finish on the podium once again.


The Red Bull Ring is 4.326 km long with nine turns and this will be the third time the GP2 cars have raced here.


As the circuit is a mixture of two relatively long straights with a tight and twisty section Pirelli will be supplying their P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft compounds as their nominated tyres for the weekend.

GP2 timeschedule Red Bull Ring:

Practice: Fri 01 Jul 2016, 12:00 (GMT+2)

Qualifying Session: Fri 01 Jul 2016, 15:55 (GMT+2)

Race 1: Sat 02 Jul 2016, 15:35 (GMT+2)

Race 2: Sun 03 Jul 2016, 10:25 (GMT+2)



GP2 Round 4 at Red Bull Ring


 Length of lap:    4.326 km

 2015 best Racing Engineering:    P8 in Qualifying – P6 in R1 – P7 in R2

 Tyre Wear:    Medium

 Brake Wear:    High

 Downforce:    High

 Throttle Average:    70%

 Fastest turn:    T8

 Hardest Braking Point:    T2

 Gear shifts per lap:    33

 Top Speed:    295 km/h

 Average Speed (Qualifying) 2015:    209.960 km/h

 Average Speed (Race) 2015:    193.158 km/h

 Pole Position Time 2015:    1:14.174s




GP2 Spielberg facts



1. The Red Bull Ring is in Spielberg, near Zeltweg, Austria.


2. The Austrian circuit has the highest altitude of any track in the championship, at 700 meters above sea level.


3. The circuit is considered entertaining, high-risk and fast moving. It also has uphill and downhill parts. It is a circuit where the skills of the driver take center stage.


4. In 2014, both Racing Engineering drivers, Stefano Coletti and Raffaele Marciello, finished the second race on the podium.


5. This track has only 9 corners and it is one of the shortest, with a length of 4.3 km.


6. In some slow speed corners, good traction is essential at the Red Bull Ring.


7. There are tight corners in sector 1, and 90° corners in sector 3, so these two sectors are a mixture of acceleration and hard braking zones.


8. The middle section has a long double left corner, where making the front tyres work well will make all the difference to gain time.


9. In Spielberg overtaking is not easy due to the nature of the corners, making strategy an important factor.


10. In Spielberg tyre degradation is a limiting factor.





GP2 vs F1


 1. The average speed in F1 is 230 km/h in F1 and 210 km/h in GP2.


2. F1 throttle usage is 82% vs 52% of the lap that the engine spends at full throttle in GP2.


3. F1 top speed is 330 km/h – GP2 is 295 km/h.


4. F1 drivers will shift gear 38 times per lap against 33 times that a GP2 driver will have to do.


5. Race distance is different: F1 goes around the circuit for 71 laps and GP2 does a total of 68 laps during its two races- 40 laps in Feature Race and 28 in the Sprint Race.


6. Pole position in F1 was set in 2015 at 1:08.759 – Pole position in GP2 was set in 2015 at 1:08.455.



- Ines Koschutnig - photos GP2