Data (GMT+3)
Free Practice 12.00 – 12.45
Qualifying 16.00 – 16.30
Feature Race (28 laps) 16.40
Sprint Race (21 laps) 11h05

Warm Up // Sergey Sirotkin (Rapax)

“I’ve never raced at the Sochi Autodrom, but I did drive a few quick laps around the track during F1 Free Practice 1 last year with Sauber. But I cannot say that I know the layout well. It will be a bit of a discovery for me during the GP2 free practice on Friday.

“Last year, because it was a new track, the grip level was quite low at the beginning. It will tricky for everybody again this year I think. There are some very interesting parts like Turn 3, and the difficult braking point at the end of the back straight. It’s not an easy track. I’m really looking forward to driving it with my GP2 car.

“Every race weekend is an important weekend, but it’s true that as a Russian driver, this will be a special one this week. I always try to perform well and fight at the top. It will be great to give my best again in front of my home crowd.”

The Stakes

After a four week break, the action resumes this week as the GP2 paddock sets up camp at the Sochi Autodrome for the ninth round of the 2015. All eyes will be on Series leader Stoffel Vandoorne and his closest rival Alexander Rossi: the American will have to stop the Belgian driver from scoring six points more than him on Saturday (including possible pole position) in order to keep his title hopes alive. It will be a difficult task as Vandoorne has always scored more points than Rossi in every round this season except for Silverstone.

However, fresh off his Formula One debut with Manor F1 Team the American should arrive in Russia with a confidence boost. Add to that, his feature race win ahead of Vandoorne in Monza last round which should put him in an optimistic mood. The title drama should not overshadow the rest of the pack starting with Mitch Evans whose pace and results in Italy prove he should fight at the front again in Russia.

It is the second time that the Series visits the Sochi Autodrome where we saw the smallest pole margin ever last season (+0.000 between Vandoorne and Arthur Pic) and where last year’s title was won by Jolyon Palmer. The Russian track is the third longest on the calendar and contains a wide variety of mostly medium-speed corners, providing many overtaking opportunities. Pirelli have selected Medium and Soft tyres for this round.

Season Stats

12 The number of podium finishes achieved by Stoffel Vandoorne out of 16 races.
6 The number of podium finishes achieved by Alexander Rossi this season.
88 The number of laps led by Campos Racing this season. That’s the second best performance of the field behind ART Grand Prix.
85 The number of points scored by RUSSIAN TIME in the last 2 rounds (Second best is Racing Engineering with 68 points).

Noteworthy

There will be 4 driver changes this weekend:
- Sean Gelael  re-joins Carlin in car #4 whilst 2014 GP3 Series Vice Champion Dean Stoneman replaces Julian Leal in car #3.
- Nicholas Latifi returns to MP Motorsport in car #16 alongside Rene Binder.
- Daiko Team Lazarus welcomes back Nathanaël Berthon. The Frenchman will race alongside Sergio Canamasas.

Jordan King (Racing Engineering) and Robert Visoiu (Rapax) will lose five grid places for the feature race following a penalty issued in Round 8 at Monza for causing a collision with Norman Nato and Alexander Rossi respectively.

Hilmer Motorsport will not take part in this event.

GP2 Series organisers have announced that Prema will takeover Lazarus’ 2016 team entry after the final round of the 2015 season. The new GP2 team will debut in the Series at the post-season tests at Yas Marina Circuit on December 02-04.

Fun with figures

8 Stoffel Vandoorne’s worst race result this season (Monaco Sprint Race).
253 The number of laps led by Vandoorne in 38 GP2 races.
0.000 The smallest pole margin ever in GP2 (Sochi 2014: Vandoorne ahead of Arthur Pic).

6 The total of fastest laps achieved by Mitch Evans and Vandoorne in GP2. That’s 4 less than Romain Grosjean and Sam Bird.

8 The total of pole positions achieved by Vandoorne in GP2. That is the highest number of poles on record. The previous record was detained by Nelson Piquet Jr and Giorgio Pantano. Note however that Piquet had achieved all six of them in the course of one season.(gp2series.com/arl)