Monaco GP: Bridgestone event summary

Bridgestone Motorsport's GP2 Series Report

Sergio Perez (Barwa Addax Team) and Jerome d'Ambrosio (DAMS) both took race wins in Monaco on Bridgestone's super soft compound racing slick. Bridgestone's wet specification also made its first appearance of the season during Thursday's GP2 qualifying.

Monte Carlo's street course requires high traction and braking, and as more rubber has gradually been introduced to the track throughout the weekend, the GP2 drivers have experienced less wheel spin, more traction and more grip. The tyre wear has been good and lap times quick in relation to Formula One.

Saturday's 42 lap feature race provided Perez with his first ever GP2 win, Pastor Maldonado (Rapax) finished second and pole sitter Dani Clos (Racing Engineering) took third. It was a dry race with Perez and Maldonado both starting well, moving ahead of Clos before the first corner. The point for fastest lap went to Perez, who set the quickest time on lap 25 and pitted on lap 16 under the safety car which was deployed due to Ho-Pin Tung (DAMS) hitting the barriers.

Sunday's 30 lap sprint race was dominated by d'Ambrosio, the Belgian driver having started from the front of the grid to claim his maiden win in the series also. Giedo van der Garde (Barwa Addax) was second, while Jules Bianchi (ART Grand Prix) finished third with his team-mate Sam Bird taking the point for fastest lap.

Perez now leads the drivers' championship with 17 points, followed by Maldonado and Clos both on 15. Rapax continues to be ahead in the teams' championship with 26 points, Barwa Addax Team in second place with 25. ART Grand Prix have risen to third in the standings with 16.

The next round of the GP2 Series will be held in Istanbul, 28-30 May, with Bridgestone's medium compound dry tyre being in use at this third GP2 weekend of the season.

Quote from Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development

"All GP2 drivers were on wet tyres for qualifying and when the rain stopped it was clear that the pole position time would come towards the end of the session as the track improved. Dani Clos made the most of the conditions to claim pole. In race one on Friday, Sergio Perez did well to have such a good start and was sensible with his tyres. Congratulations to Jerome d'Ambrosio also for his win on Saturday. Bridgestone's super soft compound has worked very well here in Monaco and we are happy with the wear and degradation shown in GP2. We were also impressed to see some great overtaking moves on our tyres this weekend on a track which is notoriously difficult to overtake on. It was certainly the right tyre choice for this

-source: bridgestone