Pirelli Round 8 round up

Unusually high ambient and track temperatures added to the challenge of racing at the legendary Belgian track as tyre strategy came to the fore when GP2 resumed following the summer break. PREMA Racing's Pierre Gasly took the honours in Saturday's Feature Race before his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi triumphed in Sunday's Sprint.

The P Zero Orange hard and P Zero Yellow soft tyres were available to the GP2 runners at the 7.004-kilometre Spa-Francorchamps circuit. But with track temperatures reaching 41 degrees centigrade on Saturday afternoon, tyre management was a key factor during the 25-lap opening race. With the top seven starting on the soft compound tyre, the focus was firmly on who would stop first for the hard compound and who would attempt to run for longer on the quicker soft tyre.

Rapax's fast-starting Gustav Malja pitted from the lead as soon as the pit window opened on lap six, with Racing Engineering's Jordan King and DAMS driver Alex Lynn also stopping for hard covers. Gasly completed one extra lap, resumed in eighth following his stop for the hard tyre and then set about charging through the field to take the lead and his third win of the campaign ahead of King and Williams test driver Lynn.

Meanwhile, RUSSIAN TIME's Artem Markelov, ART's Sergey Sirotkin and MP Motorsport driver Oliver Rowland all started on the hard compound but switched to the soft tyre in the closing stages. Their decision proved inspired as they all moved into the top 10.

Giovinazzi made up for his slow getaway from pole on Saturday to win Sunday's Sprint Race ahead of Malja, Trident's Luca Ghiotto and Gasly, who extends his title lead in the drivers' standings.(gp2series.com)